


Order of Lilith

by joongz



Series: Days of Past Darkness [5]
Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Angst with a Happy Ending, Dark Magic, Dragons, Established Relationship, Family Drama, Gen, M/M, Magic, Nightmares, probably an excessive amount of hand holding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-03
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-13 01:08:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 20,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29020215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joongz/pseuds/joongz
Summary: Their 6th year at Hogwarts begins smoothly — the horrors of the previous year almost forgotten — until Jongho comes to them, one late March afternoon, desperately asking for help as his nightmares are back.In between managing his new formed relationship with Hongjoong and dealing with his family, Seonghwa embarks on a dangerous adventure with his friends into the depths of the Ministry of Magic.(Or, a short sequel toWhen Ghosts Cry.)
Relationships: Choi San/Jung Wooyoung, Kang Yeosang/Song Mingi, Kim Hongjoong/Park Seonghwa
Series: Days of Past Darkness [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1631374
Kudos: 44





	Order of Lilith

**Author's Note:**

> hello again!!!
> 
> written for the lovely [@seonghwaveneers](https://twitter.com/seonghwaveneers) hehe💛💛 thank you!!! i enjoyed writing this one a lot, it was nice revisiting these chaotic boys and see what would happen in their later years at Hogwarts!!! And thank you for being so patient and supportive!!🥺🥺
> 
> happy reading!!^^
> 
> (For context I encourage reading [When Ghosts Cry](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21669898/chapters/51677575) as this is a continuation of it!)

**Part 1. January-May, 6th Year at Hogwarts**

_Defeated the Darkness within may be,_

_But it lingers where no conscious eyes can reach._

It was on the last day of snow, mid January, when the second term of their sixth year had just begun, that things tipped over. In his mind, it was something dramatic, playing in slow-motion: a glass, filled to the brim with water, toppling over and falling to the ground, slowly for everyone to witness and see, but no one to stop, until it crashed on the hard tiles, breaking apart and spilling its content.

The reality, possibly, was not so dramatic. It started with a harmless enough question, “Mingi told me about his Christmas at Yeosang’s; would you ever invite me over to your house?” 

It was a fair question considering that they were dating, but he froze. The narrow corridor suddenly so much narrower as the shadows crept up on him like stalkers in the night.

Park Seonghwa was many things: Prefect, Captain of the Ravenclaw Quidditch Team, smart and hardworking, loyal and protective of his friends, he was strategic in difficult situations, he was brave… 

And he was also terrified of his parents.

There was a good reason why he had avoided for his boyfriend, Kim Hongjoong, to visit him during summer and Christmas. Seonghwa came from a Muggle family, his parents didn’t look positively on the fact that he was a wizard, and his father didn’t look very positively on the fact that he was gay—it wasn’t as bad as it once had been, he didn’t scornfully look at Seonghwa’s pride flag anymore, but his love was still conditioned and strained. Hongjoong meeting his parents was a disaster Seonghwa did not want to occur. The mere thought of bringing Hongjoong home terrified him; it made his skin prickle uncomfortably, and anxiously bite his lips until they tasted salty and metallic.

No, he couldn’t do that, to neither of them. If Seonghwa introduced Hongjoong to his parents, it would be a moment they fully accepted their son. Neither Seonghwa nor Hongjoong deserved a strained and uncomfortable situation as that one would be.

The two Prefects were walking Hogwarts’s corridors, hours before midnight, for patrolling purpose—and for sneakily making out in the shadows when no one was around to bother them.

“Seonghwa?” Hongjoong called out, his voice worried now as Seonghwa kept quiet. He tilted his head in confusion. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah,” Seonghwa breathed. “I… I don’t know if that is such a good idea; inviting you to my house, I mean,” he explained.

“Oh.” Hongjoong looked away, biting the inside of his cheek. “Why is that?”

“My parents have a hard time accepting me. They don’t like that I’m a wizard and am attending Hogwarts. They think it’s dangerous and strange.”

Hongjoong faltered. He stopped walking and reached out his hand to grab Seonghwa’s wrist lightly. A complicated look crossed his face. He sported black hair now, similar to Seonghwa’s own, except it was a bit curlier than his own. His bright, dazzling eyes stared up at him, and Seonghwa was momentarily brought back to their fifth year, when he’d first realized that Hongjoong held galaxies in his eyes, when he had started to fall for him. It almost brought a smile to his lips, but the shadow of their conversation loomed over him.

“Has this anything to do with your Boggart last year? The words they said to you…” He trailed off hesitantly, scared he was crossing a line.

Even if they had been dating for nearly a year now, there was still a lot they were learning about one another. They were halfway through their sixth year at Hogwarts, their N.E.W.T.s creeping closer, the stress they presented was so impeding. Plus, they both were Captains of their respective Quidditch teams. They didn’t have as much time as they liked to hang out and talk.

“Yes,” Seonghwa answered. “I was always scared they would kick me out one day, drawing a line. It’s a reason why I mostly hang out with Yeosang, Wooyoung, and Jongho during the summers.”

“I’m sorry,” Hongjoong apologized. “I didn’t remember. There was so much going on and… I’m sorry.”

Seonghwa shook his head, taking Hongjoong’s hands into his. They were soft and rough at the same time, small in his own. He adored them. Hongjoong intertwined their fingers, squeezing Seonghwa’s hand in reassurance.

“Don’t apologize, it’s not your fault. I understand you want to meet them—my parents—but it’s difficult.”

“Would you like to meet my mom then?” Hongjoong asked tentatively. “She’s been asking about you a lot.”

Seonghwa knew what Hongjoong was trying to do, and he appreciated it, but it didn’t lift the pain of his own parents off his shoulders. Still, he nodded, a fleeting smile hushing over his face.

“I’d love to.”

Hongjoong smiled, small and warm. It was a very private smile, one he only seemed to have for Seonghwa. The Hufflepuff leaned up on his tiptoes, and kissed the Ravenclaw.

“She’ll love you,” Hongjoong told him. “I… have talked a lot about you. She was surprised at first because she knew of our rivalry. She said it was very adequate of me to fall in love with my rival,” he kept on rambling as they patrolled the castle’s corridors, ease settling into Seonghwa’s heart.

But in the back of his mind, his hurt remained. His parents barely knew about his life at Hogwarts; they knew he had friends, they knew he passed his classes, but they didn’t care enough to ask him about them, to let him talk about it.

“I think I’ll get along with her,” Seonghwa said, pushing his troubling thoughts away. “We seem to have a lot in common, such as teasing you.”

“ _Hey_!” Hongjoong protested. He shuddered. “On second thought, I don’t think it’ll be good to introduce you two…”

Seonghwa laughed. “Aw, I know you love it when I tease you.”

Hongjoong shoved his shoulder playfully. “I _don’t_.”

“Oh, I very distinctively remember you telling me that you were vying for my attention last year,” Seonghwa recalled smugly.

Hongjoong turned red, sputtering, “No—Well, you too!”

Seonghwa stilled, angling his face so it was centimeters from Hongjoong’s. “Yeah, I did. I was _very_ desperate for your attention.”

Hongjoong rolled his eyes, cheeks still dusted pink, but his eyes were attentive on Seonghwa’s every move. For a brief moment, they stood close to each other, intensely staring each other down; it reminded Seonghwa a bit of the old times, but unlike the old times, when they had been actual rivals, he could now reach forward, his lips pressing softly against Hongjoong’s, eliciting a small smile and fond huff from the Hufflepuff.

Hongjoong snaked his arm around Seonghwa’s shoulders, drawing him closer to deepen the kiss. Seonghwa exhaled in relief, clinging to his boyfriend’s robes.

As long as they were together, everything would be alright.

**~*~**

It was a tiresome _Divination_ class that Seonghwa only endured for the sake of Wooyoung. If it weren’t for the Gryffindor, Seonghwa would have dropped out of the class like Yeosang, Mingi, and Hongjoong had done—none of them wanted to pursue the class for their N.E.W.T.s—but Wooyoung had bribed Seonghwa to stick with him, and the Ravenclaw could hardly say no to Wooyoung.

(Besides, he got fairly good grades at it every year—either _Outstanding_ or _Exceeds Expectations_ —so it wasn’t going to taint his report card.)

Professor Taehyung was rambling on and on about that day’s topic: something about the art of reading the future in the shape of the clouds that Seonghwa was too worn out, from his last night’s Quidditch practice, to catch. Yunho sat on Seonghwa’s other side, equally as invested as his Gryffindor companion.

Absentmindedly, Seonghwa played with the necklace Hongjoong had gotten him last Christmas. It was made of silver, enchanted, that the Hufflepuff had a matching one of. They got warm if one thought of the other. Wooyoung had made a rather inappropriate comment about it, which both Prefects had ignored gracefully but with red ears.

“I have scheduled a trip to the grounds for our next class once the theory is absolved so we can practice the art of cloud reading,” Professor Taehyung was in the midst of saying, but he was interrupted by the noticeable _thud_ of a body colliding with the ground.

Seonghwa let go of the necklace, his eyes immediately falling on Wooyoung’s wringing body. It wasn’t an unusual occurrence that this would happen to Wooyoung during _Divination_ class, his senses heightened in the classroom. His eyes often either fell shut or were torn wide open and white, and words would fall from his lips, or, on other occasions, his hand would frantically scribble down sentences upon sentences.

This time around it was the latter.

The class barely reacted.

“There he goes again,” a boy commented as casually as someone would when facing a cat trying to steal food from a plate: mildly exasperated, but not actually annoyed.

“Quick, quick, put the parchment under his hand,” Professor Taehyung was urging Seonghwa, who complied quickly, having experienced this more times than he could count. Professor Taehyung was particularly fond and impressed by Wooyoung’s innate affinity for _Divination_. “What does it say?”

“I have no clue,” Yunho muttered, frowning. “His hand writing is atrocious.”

“Don’t be rude,” came a fellow Gryffindor’s voice—Yeo Hwanwoong, who was observing the scene with great interest. “He’s connected to the beyond, he doesn’t have _time_ to write neatly—“

Yunho rolled his eyes.

Despite this being a common occurrence for Wooyoung, it had been a year since his last worded vision, and it hadn’t been a positive one. A feeling of terrible dread filled Seonghwa as he discerned some of the words Wooyoung was hastily writing down: _no conscious eyes,helper becomes helpless, cavernous, sacrifice, Darkness_ …

 _Darkness_ , Seonghwa thought miserably. They had defeated it last year—that Darkness—it would soon mark the exact date since they had brought San back from the dead. Seonghwa couldn’t help but wonder if this was connected to it. He desperately hoped not.

When Wooyoung regained consciousness, he did so with a deep breath and a strangled sound.

“What… What happened?” he questioned.

“You fainted,” a fellow Ravenclaw said, Seo Changbin. “You went all freaky—“

“Changbin!” Jang Yeeun—another Ravenclaw Prefect—protested.

Changbin held his hands up defensively. “It was creepy,” he muttered under his breath.

“How do you feel?” Seonghwa asked his friend.

“Strange,” Wooyoung answered. He glanced up at Professor Taehyung. “I saw images… I rarely have seen images this vividly. It felt like I was there, like it was happening right this instant.”

Their _Divination_ professor looked troubled. He picked up the piece of parchment, where Wooyoung’s messy writing stood out starkly against the faded, yellow material.

“Come see me after class Mr Jeong. We could discuss the meaning behind it.”

Wooyoung nodded, a frown between his brows.

Once class returned to its usual rhythm, Seonghwa turned to his Gryffindor friend.

“Are you really okay?”

“I don’t know, Hwa. The images were so real. Usually, when I have a vision, it’s about a vague future, that can go in a variety of direction so long as the events are true to the vision. This one felt inevitable, like a certain future.”

Seonghwa only hummed, unable to form a sentence, his dread only growing.

**~*~**

If Seonghwa had believed that the glass had fallen the moment he’d talked to Hongjoong about his complicated family, it was nothing compared to the moment Jongho crossed the door to the Hufflepuff’s boys dorm one late March afternoon, where Seonghwa had been lying on Hongjoong’s bed, both of them doing their _History of Magic_ reading.

Mingi startled out of his nap, his head bumping into Yunho’s thigh, who had been playing Wizarding Chess by himself.

“Ah, finally decided to face me?” Yunho asked cheekily, pointing at the chess board. His smile fell the moment he took in Jongho’s distressed state. “What happened?”

The young Slytherin took a few deep breaths, his black hair was standing in different directions, and going by his rumpled shirt, he had just taken a nap himself; the stress of the O.W.L.s catching up on him.

“I-I,” he stuttered aimlessly.

Seonghwa got up and immediately rushed toward him, protectively taking him into his arms. “Jongho, what is it? Did something happen?”

“Nightmare,” he said, voice tight. “I had a nightmare.”

The room’s temperatures seemed to drop instantly, leaving Seonghwa cold and frozen. His heart was beating fast and loud in fear. He looked at Hongjoong helplessly. Yunho and Mingi were alert now, sitting at the edge of the bed and making room between them for Jongho to sit down.

“A nightmare?” Hongjoong asked, trying to sound calm. “Of what kind?”

Jongho looked at him, spooked. “The same I had last year. The one involving the Order of Lilith,” he told them in a faint whisper.

It had been a year since they’d brought back San to the world of the living with the help of Jongho’s connection to powerful yet dark magic. After that ordeal, Jongho’s black eye—which had turned black during the summer before his fourth year at the same time as his nightmares had started—had returned to its normal color, and his ties to the Order of Lilith had been broken off as his uncle, who had been involved with the Order, had been arrested. At the time, they had thought it was over forever. Jongho had remained in contact with a Ministry worker who was part of the Department of Mysteries and in charge of taking down the Order of Lilith. None of them had expected to be faced with this again and relive some of their most terrible memories. Especially Jongho, who had been so relieved to be just a regular teenager, not tethered to Dark Magic.

“How is that possible?” Mingi asked as the silence spread out thin and tense, leaving everyone short of breath. “After… After we brought back San your eye was fine, the nightmares were gone,” he whispered.

Jongho shrugged. “I don’t know.” He was biting his bottom lip anxiously. “It’s been a year,” he said. “It’s been a year, _exactly_ , since we brought back San.”

When he looked up, with the shadows around, Seonghwa thought for a terrifying moment that one of Jongho’s eyes was once again black—or both of them—but to his relief it was only a play of the light. Jongho looked fine, but his gaze was worried.

“A year exactly,” Yunho echoed. “Do you think this means something?”

“It has to,” Jongho insisted.

“What happens in the nightmares?” Seonghwa inquired. “The last time you had them you saw a-a demon that beckoned you over to the darkness…”

“They’re not exactly like that, no one is trying to call me over, but there’s a voice. I can’t decipher it. It sounds as deep as the earth itself, and I see all these flashing images of underground tunnels and caverns. It’s confusing. Lastly, there’s just pure and absolute darkness,” he explained. “You have no idea how terrifying that is: when there is absolutely nothing.”

“Darkness is not nothing,” Hongjoong pointed out thoughtfully.

Jongho glared at him. “I see nothing, and nothing fills me, and I know it’s darkness because I’ve felt it before, when we brought back San. It was pulling at me, like the Order predicted it would. At the time you all pulled me out of it, but… What if a piece of it lingered in me?”

No one dared to answer. They had just recovered from the horrors of the previous year, glad that they could return to their regular lives. Especially for the sixth years: they were more than focused on passing their classes for the N.E.W.T.s and their futures. To be dealing with this darkness again, facing a powerful and mostly unknown enemy—it wasn’t optimal.

Seonghwa wished it was just Jongho having nightmares and, due to his past experiences, he was being cautious, but even as Seonghwa thought this he knew they shouldn’t ignore it.

“Wooyoung blacked out during _Divination_ two weeks ago, scribbling down some confusing sentences,” he began speaking, carefully. Everyone’s eyes were on him. “He tried to figure them out with Yeosang because his writing was terrible at the moment of the vision, and it was very vague, but it could be a lead. If it’s a vision—like the one he had last year—I think we should be cautious. For now, let’s wait. If anything else happens, come to me immediately, Jongho.”

The young Slytherin nodded. “I will.” He glanced around. “Can I sleep in someone’s bed tonight? I don’t want to wake up alone, gasping for air.”

Seonghwa’s heart sunk, heavy as led, and he opened his mouth to speak, but Yunho beat him to it: “You can sleep in the Gryffindor Tower with Wooyoung and I.”

Jongho shot him a grateful, slightly flustered smile. “Thank you, Yunho.”

Mingi tilted his head. “Speak of Wooyoung, where is he? He was meant to come here with Yeosang like an hour ago.”

“I think they might have got stuck somewhere near the Astronomy Tower again,” Seonghwa said, grimacing. It was widely known in between Muggles that the best phone connection was up at the Astronomy Tower, which Wooyoung took advantage of to call San whenever they had free time. Yeosang usually accompanied him up there, since he was the most tech-savvy one out of the group.

“What do you mean ‘again’?” Hongjoong echoed, squinting his eyes.

“With the stairs moving, they often miss the timing and end up stuck,” Seonghwa explained with a shrug.

“That checks out,” Mingi muttered, running a hand through his hair. It stuck up everywhere. “I’m gonna go pick them up.”

“How?” Yunho questioned. “Are you going to politely ask the stairs to move because you want to hug your boyfriend and they’ll just listen to you?”

Mingi did a crude gesture at Yunho, who laughed. The Gryffindor sobered up, though, as he looked over at Jongho. He got up, slinging an arm around the Slytherin’s shoulders.

“Let’s go grab your pajamas and special pillow, shall we?”

“I _don’t_ _have_ a special pillow,” Jongho grumbled as they exited the room.

Seonghwa settled back comfortably, shimmying closer to Hongjoong, their _History of Magic_ reading falling to the side. Hongjoong sensed his worry and covered Seonghwa’s cold hands with his, the contrast funny since Hongjoong’s were a lot smaller than his.

“Even if the darkness is back, we’ll beat it again,” the Hufflepuff said, convinced. “We did so last year, we can do it again.”

“Can we?” Seonghwa wondered, doubtful. “What if there was a prize Jongho paid last year that we didn’t know about, and it’s manifesting now?”

Hongjoong squeezed his hands, not removing them. “Whatever happens, we’ll make sure _all_ _of us_ are okay. All eight of us. No matter what.” Seonghwa wanted to say that was a heavy promise, one not easy to keep because it was so incredibly out of their control, but before he could even formulate the sentence, Hongjoong continued, “It’s the only way I can imagine us: _alive_.”

Seonghwa breathed out, not saying anything. Death wasn’t always the worst punishment.

“Plus, Jongho has help from that mysterious Ministry worker he doesn’t want to reveal. If anything happens, they will help.”

“I guess you’re right,” Seonghwa muttered, but he couldn’t return to his _History of Magic_ reading anymore.

His mind was too preoccupied with Jongho’s nightmares and what the return of them could mean. Images from their fifth year tormented his mind, when he had felt that darkness deep inside of him, making him a stranger to himself and his surroundings. He thought about the Order and how secretive they were, no access to their location, to their identity…

They were only teenagers facing a completely invisible and unknown enemy.

**~*~**

With the approach of summer and exams, Seonghwa’s mind was heavily focused on studying and passing with the necessary grades so he could take these subjects in his seventh year for his N.E.W.T.s, but he thought about the inevitability of taking the Hogwarts Express back home, where he’d have to confront his parents. Lastly, here was the Quidditch Tournament, the last game was only a week away: Ravenclaw vs Gryffindor. The pressure was high, Seonghwa didn’t want to disappoint his team members.

In between everything, he had nearly forgotten about Jongho’s nightmares. The young Slytherin hadn’t mentioned them again, and since Wooyoung’s scribbled madness from _Divination_ hadn’t revealed much or made sense, they had stored it away, hoping it was just a bump in the road—a flash of a shadow in one’s periphery that wasn’t threatening in the slightest.

Seonghwa was returning from Quidditch practice, his hair wet with sweat, his arms and legs hurting from the exertion. It was late May, only a week a from June, and the atmosphere around the castle’s grounds was beautiful: trees in full bloom carried a sweet scent through the air that held a promise; birds chirped happily from the edge of the Prohibited Forest, making it less scary; the shore of the Black Lake was full of young students playing and laughing, not yet troubled by the difficult exams…

When Seonghwa crossed Hogwarts’s doors to the Entrance Hall, he was ambushed by his friends. Worry was etched to their expressions.

“Seonghwa, you have to come with us immediately,” Wooyoung said.

“It’s about Jongho,” said Yeosang, pulling at Seonghwa’s wrist.

“He has something to tell us,” Mingi added. “Hongjoong and Yunho are already with him.”

“What happened?” Seonghwa managed to ask at last, shivering. All too quick the summery feeling from outside had vanished.

“It’s about the nightmares,” Wooyoung explained.

Seonghwa’s heart froze.

“Not exactly about the nightmares, but related to them,” Yeosang clarified. “The Ministry worker that was helping him—something happened to them.”

“What?”

“Jongho didn’t say much. He said he wanted to wait until you were done.”

Seonghwa ran a hand through his tangled hair. “Okay. Okay.” He breathed out evenly, trying to calm himself down.

They met with the rest of their friends up in the classroom on the fourth floor, where they usually held their _Dungeons & Dragons _campaigns. Hongjoong and Yunho were already seated at the long table with Jongho. The classroom looked dark now, with a heavy atmosphere hanging over them.

“Sit down, sit down,” Hongjoong urged them.

Jongho looked wary. A set of tea stood in the center of the table, undoubtedly brought and brewed by Yunho. Next to the tea set was an opened envelop, scattered pieces of paper lying around it, like a puzzle, a second envelop was next to it with the official seal of the Ministry on it.

“So, what happened?” Seonghwa asked when no one made a move.

“I got a letter yesterday night. Torn pieces of paper in an envelope. There was no sender, but the owl was from the Ministry. I had my suspicions who it could be from, but I didn’t understand why. Then I got another worrying letter just now: the Ministry worker that has been helping me with the Order disappeared two days ago.”

A tense silence followed. Wooyoung cursed silently. Yunho filled himself another cup of tea, blowing the steam as his eyebrows remained furrowed in concern. Mingi and Hongjoong were bouncing their legs relentlessly. Yeosang stared at Jongho thoughtfully, absentmindedly biting his nails.

“Do you think it was them—the Order of Lilith? That they kidnapped them?” Seonghwa asked what they were all thinking.

“Most likely,” Jongho answered.

Wooyoung glanced at the scattered pieces of paper, studying them. There was a series of lines and dots, and the numbers one and three. It didn’t make much sense to Seonghwa at first.

“This letter is from the Ministry worker?”

“Yes,” Jongho confirmed. “His name is Taeil. I believe this is a clue about his whereabouts, or about the Order… I’m not quite sure.”

“It looks like morse code,” Yunho said. “But since it’s all cut up it will take time to figure out.”

“It can’t be more than a word,” Seonghwa observed.

“Morse code?” Hongjoong echoed, confused. Seonghwa quickly explained morse code to the wizards. “That’s smart. I didn’t know something like this existed.” He looked at Jongho. “Why did he communicate this to you and not someone else that worked with him?”

Jongho bit his lower lip. “There are many Ministry workers who are part of the Order. Taeil said that it was getting harder and harder to keep track lately who was in it and who wasn’t. Many have been interrogated to no avail; others _have been_ arrested… But he said he didn’t have many he could trust anymore.”

Seonghwa inhaled deeply, counted to three, and let go, hoping some of that stress disappeared with it.

“So… _Fuck_.”

“Very eloquent, but yes, we’re screwed,” Jongho said.

“What about the other letter?” Seonghwa asked.

Jongho handed him the Ministry’s envelop. It was a regular letter, announcing the disappearance of Taeil. The letter was thick and rough to the touch, the typical parchment used for official letters of the Ministry. He passed the letter on to Hongjoong, who inspected it just as carefully, his finger passing over the seal of the Ministry at the bottom of the letter.

“Keep this letter just in case we might need it later on,” Seonghwa told Hongjoong, who nodded, putting it back into its envelop.

“We should figure out the arrangement of these pieces and then we’ll know what the morse code says,” Yeosang said, studying the scattered pieces further, trying to piece them together.

“We are swarmed with school work that we have to pass with _Outstanding_ or _Exceeds_ _Expectations_ for our N.E.W.T.s next year; and Jongho has his O.W.L.s soon,” Hongjoong pointed out. “We shouldn’t forget or neglect our school work…”

Jongho bit his lips. “Taeil told me the same last year: that I should prioritize my studies; but he’s _missing_ now. I don’t think that applies anymore.”

“I’m sure others have received this message,” Hongjoong said thoughtfully. “I doubt you’re the only one to receive it. Let’s finish the school year without distractions and focus on this during the summer, yeah?”

There was a general noise of agreement.

Seonghwa pressed his lips together. _Summer_. He had hoped he could bring Hongjoong home, some day his father and little brother weren’t around, and introduce his boyfriend to his mother at least. Now there was a looming threat spreading out over their futures like a thundercloud, steering their lives into yet another dangerous direction.

He refrained from cursing or throwing something through the room, that wasn’t very like him, but the stress and fear and frustration were getting to him. He swallowed, his hands shaking, and stood up.

“I’m… I’m going for a walk,” he muttered, leaving the classroom without another word.

“I’ll come with,” Hongjoong said, but Seonghwa shook his head.

“Summer is a delicate topic with Seonghwa,” he heard Wooyoung say.

“It’s been getting worse between him and his parents,” Yeosang whispered apprehensively.

“ _Oh_ ,” Hongjoong breathed.

Then the door fell shut behind Seonghwa, silencing any conversation happening in the classroom. With a heavy sigh, he walked down the corridor, sorting through his entangled thoughts.

Despite Wooyoung and Yeosang’s warnings, when Seonghwa found a secluded area on the sixth floor by a large window that gave view onto the castle’s grounds and Great Lake, the corridor was otherwise abandoned since nearby was a classroom that one of the ghosts liked to haunt, making it one of the least desirable spots in Hogwarts, he was promptly interrupted by the sound of cautious footsteps.

Seonghwa didn’t move, keeping his body still as he stared out of the window, his back resting against the stone wall, one of his legs dangling.

Hongjoong leaned against the wall, taking in Seonghwa. “Are you alright?”

“What do you think?” Seonghwa hissed, sharper than he meant to. Hongjoong looked away, out of the window too. “Sorry.”

“Is this because of your parents? Or because of the disappearance of Taeil?”

“A little bit of both.” He ran a hand through his hair, distressed. “I just can’t seem to get anything right.”

Hongjoong moved closer, resting one of his hands on Seonghwa’s knee to pat it reassuringly. “It’s not your duty to make everything right; none of us expect that from you.” He searched his face, but Seonghwa kept avoiding the Hufflepuff’s gaze. “We are here too. You’re not alone in this, Seonghwa.” He sat down in the small space between Seonghwa and the wall, adjusting himself so their knees were now touching. He started playing with his silver necklace, the same chain Seonghwa was wearing, disappearing beneath his button up, it glimmered brightly in the afternoon sun filtering in through the window. “About your parents too. You can talk to me about them, you can curse them out if you want, I won’t judge you.”

“I wish I didn’t have reasons to curse them out,” Seonghwa muttered. “I wish I could bring you over as easily as Yeosang brings Mingi home, or San brings Wooyoung home. It makes me angry, and sad… And hurt.” He looked down, his long eyelashes gracing his cheeks as tears clung to the dark tips, sunlight reflecting in them.

Hongjoong reached out his hand, taking Seonghwa’s in his, holding it preciously. There weren’t many words he could offer Seonghwa, he couldn’t quite relate to his situation. “Whatever happens, you’ve got me, Seonghwa. We’re together. Not just because we’re dating, but we’ve got each other’s backs, yeah?” He tried going for a smile, squeezing Seonghwa’s hand. “Anything you need, I’m here; don’t forget that.”

Seonghwa was still crying, his eyes closed, but he squeezed Hongjoong’s hand back.

“Thank you.”

* * *

**Summer between 6th Year & 7th Year**

The ride from Hogwarts to their respective homes always felt wildly different than the other way around. Tiredness and exhaustion clung to their compartment as the Hogwarts Express steadily slithered through hills and meadows, past forests and small villages.

Seonghwa had taken a nap, foregoing his Prefect duties, as Hongjoong had promised he’d patrol the hallways for a while so his boyfriend could rest.

He was woken up by someone caressing his hair, and as he adjusted his eyes to the now dim light reigning in the train, he made out Hongjoong’s faint silhouette.

“Hey,” the Hufflepuff greeted him. “Did you sleep well?”

Seonghwa sat up, rotating his head and shoulders until the stiffness was gone. “Yeah,” he responded in a croak. “How was keeping the heathens in check?”

Hongjoong laughed. “They were not _that_ terrible. Everyone’s tired.” He pulled out a Chocolate Frog from his trousers pocket. “Here.”

Seonghwa wrinkled his nose. “Are you seriously offering me a melted Chocolate Frog?”

“It’s not melted!” Hongjoong sputtered. “I put a spell on it to prevent it from melting.”

Seonghwa grinned, bumping his shoulder into Hongjoong’s. As he ate his snack, he turned around in the Prefect compartment, eyeing the rows behind them, most of the students were napping.

“What’s everyone else up to?” he asked.

“Nothing major,” Hongjoong said, scratching the back of his neck. “Jongho, Yunho, and Yeosang have been trying to figure out the morse code. Mingi has been _learning_ about morse code. And Wooyoung has been updating San about everything.”

Seonghwa nodded, feeling slightly ashamed that he had been sleeping for most of the train ride, completely useless.

“I can see what you’re thinking,” Hongjoong said in a scolding tone. “You’ve been working hard this whole year, preparing for the N.E.W.T.s, nailing non-verbal spells, _and_ even becoming the fastest student to master _Apparition_ —give yourself a break, Seonghwa.”

Seonghwa pouted. “Don’t do that.”

“Do what?”

“Scold me while caring for me.”

Hongjoong snorted. “Someone _has_ to remind you and keep you in check.”

He folded his arms in front of his chest, pretending to be annoyed. Hongjoong rolled his eyes, fondly and gently letting his head bump against Seonghwa’s, his hands finding his boyfriend’s.

“We’ll figure this morse code thing out,” Hongjoong said in a low voice. “We have the whole summer ahead of us. Look, it’ll be a great excuse to hang out.”

Seonghwa hummed.

“I’m just worried.”

“We all are, but we can’t paralyze our lives because of this worry.”

He sighed, passing a hand through his hair. “I know, I know. I don’t look forward to what might await us. I still feel so unprepared.”

“We know significantly more than last year, not just about the Order, but about magic and spells too. If we have managed to take out Jongho’s uncle last year and escape unscathed, we can do it again.”

Seonghwa worried his bottom lip. “What if it was intentional?”

“What?”

“That we succeeded last year; what if it was intentional? After all they needed Jongho to perform a powerful spell so the darkness could grow. They _needed_ us to succeed and escape the Ministry. And Jongho said that many Ministry workers _are_ part of the Order. I just can’t help but think it might have been intentional.”

Hongjoong fell silent momentarily, his fingers still playing with Seonghwa’s, but absentmindedly so. “Even if that might be true, the darkness didn’t get to Jongho. He’s fine. They didn’t win.”

“But what if the darkness _did_ get to him and it took a year to manifest itself—“

“Seonghwa,” Hongjoong said softly. “We don’t know for sure. There’s no need to worry ourselves with staged scenarios that haven’t happened and might never happen.”

With a clipped tone, he said, “Fine, you’re right.”

Hongjoong sighed, but didn’t talk again. He knew Seonghwa’s irritation was only temporary and would dissipate soon. They could be overly proud sometimes, having a difficulty to admit they were wrong or overreacting. Their strong personalities often clashed, hence why they had spent so many years as rivals.

Seonghwa hated to admit that he had a tendency to worry too much, too quickly, too infectiously… Which could often lead to him sabotaging a situation or making things harder for himself. Hongjoong had figured that out very quickly, instinctively in tune with Seonghwa’s way of thinking and acting.

“Sorry,” he finally muttered.

“It’s okay,” Hongjoong assured him. He craned his neck suddenly, removing his hands from Seonghwa’s. “We’re arriving.” He glanced at Seonghwa, giving him a chaste kiss. “Come on, let’s gather our stuff.”

“Ugh, I don’t want to say goodbye to you yet,” Seonghwa muttered.

“Don’t be cute, it’ll make this so much harder,” Hongjoong complained, but he was smiling. “We can _Apparate_ now, we can see each other whenever we want within the blink of an eye, literally.”

Seonghwa pouted. “I’ll miss you.”

Fondly, Hongjoong rolled his eyes. “I’ll miss you too.”

**~*~**

Mid July Seonghwa finally found the window to speak to his mother about Hongjoong. It was early afternoon, their neighborhood pleasantly quiet as most people were still at work and the kids were rotting away inside their homes, waiting for the temperatures to drop so they could play outside.

Seonghwa and his mom were in the middle of baking, when he found the courage to bring up his boyfriend.

“Mom,” he started hesitantly. “I met someone at Hogwarts—a boy. I would like you to meet him.”

His mother didn’t respond right away, wiping the counter with a light frown between her brows. When she looked up it was with an infinitely blank look.

“You know your father doesn’t approve of this…”

“That’s why I’m telling _you_. Hongjoong—my boyfriend—could come some day dad isn’t around,” he tried. He saw the flicker in her eyes and immediately added, “Kyunghee neither. It’ll be just the three of us. He’s very polite and charming.”

Her lips twitched with the ghost of a smile, easing his heart a bit.

“I’ll think about it,” she told him. Then she studied Seonghwa carefully, it was a scrutinizing and surrendered look. “How… How did your exams go?” she asked slowly.

Seonghwa’s heart beat loudly in his chest, nearly deafening so. He stared at her with wide eyes, unable to speak. She grimaced at this stunned reaction, returning to her tasks, that Seonghwa was supposed to help her with, but now he was too frozen to do so.

“Aren’t you going to answer?”

“Um, they-they went well,” he finally found his voice. “The results should come in two weeks or so, through an owl. Like… Like always.” He let out a stuttered breath.

“Good.” She nodded curtly. “I’m glad,” she added very quietly.

Seonghwa wanted to cry, his heart heavy and light at the same time.

“Next year I am taking my last exams, which will determinate my future in the wizarding world,” he carried on, stumbling over his words, but he’d been aching for so long to speak with his parents—at least one of them—about it. She didn’t seem to mind, for once. “They’re called N.E.W.T.s and they’re supposedly very difficult. I passed all my subjects this year and can take the exams in them next summer.” His mother wasn’t saying anything, quietly working, but she wasn’t telling him to stop talking about magic either, so he took that as a win. “I still don’t know what I want to do, but-but I might pursue a job in the Ministry of Magic, in the Department regarding Magical Creatures, to help better the relations.”

“Magical Creatures?” his mother echoed, faintly amused and curious.

“Yes, such as werewolves and Veelas,” he answered.

His mother shot him a look. He looked down, avoiding her piercing eyes.

“Veelas?” she repeated carefully. “Wasn’t one of your friends a Veela?”

“Y-Yes! Yeosang, he is half-Veela,” he told her, nearly crying as he realized his mother _had been listening_ to him for the past years. His heart felt light and relieved, but heavy at the same time as he’d suffered so long, waiting for their approval. He shouldn’t have had to wait. “One of my new friends is a werewolf,” he added, testing out her reaction.

She only hummed, her eyes squinted and her lips pursed. Seonghwa couldn’t blame her, it was a lot to take in that werewolves were real. He wondered what she’d say if he told her that dragons existed. She would probably faint.

**~*~**

Unfortunately but not so unexpectedly, Seonghwa’s wish to introduce Hongjoong to his mother didn’t work out as smoothly. His father heard of his intentions and prohibited Seonghwa from bringing any wizards to their home, which escalated into a heated argument that left Seonghwa with prickling skin and burning tears in his eyes. That night he had packed his bags, had called Hongjoong, and had _Apparated_ near the house Hongjoong’s father lived in, that Seonghwa had visited the summer before. Hongjoong had picked him up from there to bring him to his mom’s house.

It had been four days since then and, although Seonghwa was still hurt by his own parents, he was enjoying the remainder of his summer. The 1st of September was only a few days away and Hongjoong’s mom had been kind enough to let him stay there, practically adopting him.

Hongjoong said it was Seonghwa’s natural charm, bewitching his mom into adoring him. Hongjoong pretended he wasn’t a big fan of it as Seonghwa and Haneul often conspired behind the Hufflepuff’s back. She was more than delighted to have someone to share Hongjoong’s baby photos with, and Seonghwa happily obliged.

“I was two years old,” Hongjoong bemoaned, looking at a particularly embarrassing photograph as they were reunited at the table for breakfast.

“It’s cute,” Seonghwa said teasingly.

“Shut up.”

“Make me.”

Hongjoong blushed, grumbling under his breath.

“Oh, to be young and in love again.” Haneul laughed out loud. “What will you boys be up to today?”

Hongjoong and Seonghwa exchanged a glance: they would be studying the morse code since it had been hard keeping track of it. Yeosang’s dad had planned an impromptu trip with his two sons, and Wooyoung was helping his step-aunt in the Ministry as an assistant, which left him with little time to help them decode it. Jongho was trying to get as much information about Taeil’s disappearance from the Department of Mysteries, but they weren’t giving away much. Yunho and Mingi were trying to crack the morse code with little success; and after Mingi’s terrible _Apparition_ accident, they had spent about a week in Saint Mungo’s. San was helping as much as he could, but he was facing issues regarding his Muggle school as he had failed many subjects and was still learning the hang of it all.

The idealistic summer that Seonghwa had hoped for and the illusion of finding out the meaning of the clue Taeil had left them behind were long shattered. Everything had become a disaster.

“We’ll probably read ahead on some material for our N.E.W.T.s,” Hongjoong elegantly lied to his mom.

She arched her eyebrow. “I’m glad you’re so responsible and studious, but you two should take a break. You’ll be back in Hogwarts in a few days, you should enjoy your summer a little more. There’s a fair tonight, you should go.”

“We’ll think about it,” Seonghwa promised her.

She stood up, patting both boys on their shoulders. “Well, I’ll be going then. See you tonight.”

The _swoosh_ of her travel through Floo Network left the house submerged into momentary silence, both boys finishing their breakfast quietly. Seonghwa was thinking about asking Hongjoong if he would like to go to the fair, but he felt guilty about it. After all, they were meant to crack the puzzle. He was sure they were close.

“Um,” Hongjoong began hesitantly, “would you actually want to go to the fair?”

Seonghwa looked up from his pancakes. Hongjoong was staring at him, cheeks a bit pink. He couldn’t help but laugh. “Are you asking me out?”

Hongjoong pressed his lips together, scratching his neck. “Yes…”

Seonghwa nudged his shoulder. “Look at you, being all shy.”

“Shut up,” Hongjoong whined. “I can never tell if this would be your kind of thing or not…”

Seonghwa shrugged. “Anything as long as it’s with you. Even fighting a dragon would be great as long as I’m with you.”

Hongjoong grimaced, but his eyes were twinkling and his cheeks were a bright red. “Okay, that’s enough with the cheesiness.”

In his short time living with Hongjoong and his mother, Seonghwa had gotten quite acquaintanced with the small town, but he was surprised when he saw the colorful and frilly decorations between the many town buildings, like a paper bridge above the streets, and the many fairy lights in the trees surrounding the town center, where the main parking lot had been cleared for the fair. There were several stands with food and drinks, and others with typical Muggle games in which the participant could win a prize—shooting balloons, aiming water guns at yellow rubber ducks, throwing rings. Aside from the stands, which were swarmed with people, there were a few rides—a carrousel for children, a ferris wheel, and a platform with big trampolines.

Hongjoong looked around curiously.

“Don’t tell me you’ve never been to a fair?”

“Well, no,” the Hufflepuff admitted, scratching his neck.

“Really? Your mom said it’s an annual summer fair,” Seonghwa pointed out, frowning.

“I don’t get to stay with my mom that much,” Hongjoong told him. “This is actually the first time I’m staying with her for the whole summer.”

Seonghwa hummed. “There’s so much to explore then.” He grabbed his boyfriend’s wrist to drag him toward one of the food stands, it sold cotton candy. “Have you ever tried cotton candy?”

Hongjoong shook his head, eyeing the cotton candy machine suspiciously. A kid stood not fat from them, feasting on an enormous pink cloud.

The Hufflepuff scrunched up his nose. “It looks… odd,” he muttered.

“Seriously?” Seonghwa raised his eyebrows. “You wizards have the craziest candy ever, but you find cotton candy odd?” He laughed, pulling out money from his pocket. “You’ve got to try one. They’re really good.”

“Alright.” Hongjoong watched with wide eyes how the vendor prepared them the sweet snack, his forehead wrinkled.

Seonghwa nudged his shoulder. “Pretty awesome, huh?”

“Sure.”

Once the vendor was done, Seonghwa grabbed the pink sweetness, holding it out for his boyfriend to try, who looked a little helpless, his head tilted. Seonghwa ripped a piece off, offering it to Hongjoong, and got another one for himself. He plopped it in his mouth, letting the candy melt on his tongue and licking off the remnant of sugar off his fingers.

“Go on, try it,” he told his boyfriend.

Hongjoong squinted his eyes, but followed suit. With a pensive look he munched on the cotton candy. “Not bad, not bad,” he said, ripping off another piece. “It’s different from what I thought. It’s… It’s like I’m eating a spiderweb of sugar.”

Seonghwa laughed, shaking his head. “Gross, don’t compare this to a spiderweb, you’re ruining it.”

“It is sticky and kind of looks like a giant pink spiderweb,” Hongjoong defended himself, a small smile on his face.

“I can’t believe you!”

They walked around the fair, the sky above them slowly darkening as night grew closer and closer, soon the fairy lights and the colorful lights from the rides would become the only illumination around them, offering a beautiful and spectacular sight. Seonghwa had missed something like this, aimlessly strolling around while he talked and laughed so freely. Hongjoong was just as much in awe, especially with the rides.

After finishing the cotton candy, Seonghwa had shown Hongjoong the frustrations of Muggle prize games. If it hadn’t been for him, Hongjoong would have spent all his money trying to throw rings without winning anything.

“ _Gah_!” The Hufflepuff threw his hands in the air out of frustration, grinding his teeth. “It can’t be that hard!”

Seonghwa stood behind him, holding a plushie he had won earlier aiming water guns at the yellow rubber ducks. He tried not to laugh at Hongjoong’s annoyance.

“Most of them are rigged,” he commented.

“That’s unfair!”

“Yeah, well, people keep coming back thinking they can cheat the cheaters,” Seonghwa said, looping his arm around Hongjoong’s and dragging him away before the Hufflepuff would yell at the smug stand owner. “But there’s still a lot for us to explore.”

Hongjoong grumbled under his breath.

They passed by the ferris wheel, it grew tall into the night sky, the top wagons were empty as it was filling out for another round. The colorful lights looked like crazy new stars in the night sky.

Hongjoong stopped, looking up with dazzling eyes. He glanced at Seonghwa with a pleading look.

“Can we ride this?” he asked.

“We can,” Seonghwa said hesitantly, chewing on his bottom lip nervously.

“What is it?”

“Uh.” He scratched his neck. “I kind of have a fear of heights,” he admitted.

“What?” Hongjoong’s eyes widened. “But you’re a Quidditch player. You’re the _Captain_ of your team.”

“I’m in control of the broom when I fly,” Seonghwa said, shrugging. “It’s not a big fear of mine, but I’m not a big fan of ferris wheels or roller coasters, where I’m not in control.”

“Roller coasters?” Hongjoong repeated. “What’s that?”

“Oh, I hope you never have to find out.” He let out a sigh, counting the coins he had left in his pockets. “We could go for a ride, but it would be the last one.”

“We don’t have to if you’re not comfortable,” Hongjoong told him.

“It’s alright,” Seonghwa assured him. “I don’t want to rob you of this experience.”

Hongjoong unlinked their arms, facing his boyfriend. He took Seonghwa’s hands in his.

“I don’t want to force you to do this. It’s okay. I’m not missing out anything if I don’t go, being here with you is enough.”

Seonghwa smiled, his heart burning with affection. “You’re not forcing me. I’m doing this because I want to. Come on.”

He intertwined their fingers together and dragged Hongjoong over to the vendor booth to buy two tickets. The lady working there gave them a kind smile and wished them a good ride.

They climbed into the free wagon, thankfully it was just the two of them in there. Seonghwa sat down, clutching the plushie as Hongjoong sat opposite of him, glancing around excitedly. Their knees were brushing together in the confined space.

“Thank you for doing this with me,” Hongjoong muttered once the ferris wheel started spinning slowly. He gave Seonghwa a warm and encouraging smile, and reached out to take Seonghwa’s hands in his. “I know the circumstances weren’t the greatest, but I’m glad we could spent the last days of summer together.”

“I’m glad too,” Seonghwa admitted, squeezing Hongjoong’s hands. “It’s been really nice being with you.”

They were now at the top, the small town expanding below them: all warm and dim lights, the fair a spectacle of flickering and colorful stars, and beyond the small town forests and meadows expanded that looked like a dark ocean in the night. It was beautiful.

Seonghwa looked at Hongjoong, who was watching the scenery with dazzling, bright eyes before he noticed his eyes on him and returned Seonghwa’s gaze. Hongjoong offered a small, affection smile.

“I love you,” Seonghwa whispered, his heart beating wildly, his skin warm, and his insides fuzzy.

Hongjoong leaned forward, letting his forehead rest against Seonghwa’s. “I love you too,” he said, and then kissed him softly.

Seonghwa’s eyelashes fluttered close, his warm skin growing hotter and that fuzziness inside became a little whirlwind of fire that expanded through his whole body. He tightened his grip on Hongjoong’s hands as his heartbeat accelerated.

Hongjoong drew back after a moment, before they could deepen the kiss, and with a sigh of relief, Seonghwa realized they once again at ground level, the ride coming to an end.

**~*~**

It was the last day of summer, their luggages packed already, everything prepared for their long ride on the Hogwarts Express the following morning. They would use _Apparition_ to get to the station, Haneul would accompany them to see them off.

Although these last days of summer had been magical and much more enjoyable than the first part of the summer—and definitely a lot nicer than being at home with his parents and younger brother—Seonghwa couldn’t wait to be back in Hogwarts. He missed his friends, he missed the castle and its many corridors and secrets. It would be their last year, he wanted to soak up as much as he could of his beloved castle before he had to say goodbye.

It was early in the afternoon, Haneul still at work in the Ministry. Hongjoong and Seonghwa found themselves sprawled out on Hongjoong’s bed, pleasantly tired after a morning of packing and then a filling meal. They had decided to spent the rest of the day trying to figure out the morse code. So far they had made out the first part of the word: M-I-N. The second part of the paper was harder to piece together as, with time, the edges had curled and it was harder to fit them together. But Seonghwa strongly believed they could solve it in time. He hoped nothing had happened to Taeil. There had been a complete radio from the Department of Mysteries, Jongho hadn’t been contacted again.

Hongjoong groaned, rolling around so he was lying on his back. “This is dreadful!”

Seonghwa smiled absentmindedly, concentrating on the papers. He had noticed similarities between two of the letters. There seemed to be two _I_ ’s in the word.

“M-I-N-I,” he muttered, frowning. Distractedly, he passed a hand through his hair. “Hey, hand me the morse alphabet again, will you?”

Hongjoong handed him the paper, nearly pocking out Seonghwa’s eye in the progress.

“I hate this,” the Hufflepuff muttered. “Last night I dreamed of dots and lines.”

“Wait until you’ve heard morse code,” Seonghwa said.

“You can _hear_ morse code?” Hongjoong groaned.

Seonghwa shook his head, laughing.

He checked the remaining pieces, which Hongjoong and him had already sorted into a group of possible letters they could represent. He compared them with the letters they had, looking if there was any word that made sense. Then, as if thick fog dispersed in a forest’s clearing, he saw it. Immediately, it made sense.

He gasped, sitting up, and put together the pieces according to the word he had in mind, they fit together perfectly.

“What?” Hongjoong asked idly, turning his head to face him.

Seonghwa scribbled down the morse code on a new piece of paper and the letters each one represented. Once he was done, he waved the paper in Hongjoong’s face, who looked at him unimpressed at first.

“I’ve figured it out!” he exclaimed.

“Wait, really? I thought you were joking.” Hongjoong sat up, snatching the paper out of Seonghwa’s hand to study it.

> \- -M
> 
> * * I
> 
> \- * N
> 
> * * I
> 
> * * * S
> 
> \- T
> 
> * - * R
> 
> \- * - - Y

“Ministry,” Hongjoong read.

“Yes. Adding the numbers it makes: ‘Ministry 13’,” Seonghwa added. He felt exalted and a little crazed.

Hongjoong grinned widely. He took Seonghwa’s face in his hands and kissed him chastely. “You marvelous genius!”

Seonghwa laughed, blushing slightly. “Couldn’t have done it without your help.”

“‘Ministry 13’,” Hongjoong read, growing quiet then. “What does it mean?”

Seonghwa bit his lower lip, the rush of excitement and accomplishment leaving him abruptly, as if a gush of wind had passed through him.

“I… don’t know,” he admitted, faltering. “I’ll text Wooyoung so he can ask his step-aunt, maybe she knows something.”

Hongjoong reached out his hand, covering Seonghwa’s to stop him. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea. We should involve as little people as possible.”

“I know, but it doesn’t hurt to ask. Wooyoung will know to be discreet,” he promised. “Now all we can do is wait, and prepare ourselves for the seventh year.”

* * *

**Part 2. September-November, 7th Year at Hogwarts**

_The helper becomes the helpless, the sacrificed;_

_From inside Law the Order rises, cavernous._

Seonghwa’s heart did a jump in his chest as he remembered his very first time at the now familiar platform: the obsidian body of the Hogwarts Express hidden beneath the mist and smoke, surrounded by a clamorous crowd of Muggles and wizards. It was just the same back then as it was now, in his seventh year going abroad it. It’d be the last time for him, his last September the 1st spent in the comfortable confines of the train.

Hongjoong was right there, next to him, staring around himself with a wistful and awe induced expression, as if he was thinking exactly the same as Seonghwa. Their eyes crossed.

“Last ride,” Hongjoong muttered, his hand finding Seonghwa’s.

“Last ride,” he agreed.

They boarded the Hogwarts Express together, Hongjoong’s mother somewhere in the crowd, waving them goodbye. They squeezed through the many students in the narrow and over crowded corridor until they got to the Prefect compartment, where Jongho was already waiting for them. Their friends were not that far, Wooyoung’s loud laughter carried over to them. Seonghwa’s lips fought off an affectionate smile.

“Finally,” Jongho sighed. “These Hufflepuff second years have been giving me a headache,” he grumbled, shooting an accusatory look at Hongjoong. “Please, control them.”

“I just got here,” Hongjoong complained, putting his luggage away.

“Well, tough luck,” Jongho grumbled. Despite the fact that he was a prankster, he was known to be quite cranky and stern as Prefect.

Twenty minutes later, Hongjoong was back, frowning heavily. The train had departed about ten minutes ago, surrounding them were the outskirts of a city, thick smoke from fabrics making the sky grayer than it truly was.

Hongjoong let himself fall next to Seonghwa, sighing tiredly.

“Thank Merlin the new Prefects are eager to prove themselves. They said they would patrol.” He grinned. “I imagine Jongho is not as lucky?” he asked as he noticed the absence of the Slytherin Prefect.

“No, he’s helping the fifth years,” Seonghwa said, putting down the book he had been reading. He was too tired to face the hurricane that were their friends; he would enjoy this quietude before the clamor that would greet him once he got to Hogwarts. “Let’s stay here for a while.”

Hongjoong feigned a dramatic gasp. “And ignore our Prefect duties? Scandalous!”

Seonghwa snorted, punching Hongjoong’s shoulder playful before he rested his head against it seconds later, playing with Hongjoong’s fingers.

“Can you believe it’s our last year? It feels like yesterday that I started and, at the same time, it feels like it has been an eternity since then,” he said thoughtfully, his mind going back to his eleven year old self, jittery and anxious, meeting an equally as nervous Yeosang in the train; his sorting ceremony, his first classes, his very first encounter with Hongjoong in the _Charms_ classroom… “Remember our duel?”

Hongjoong wrinkled his nose. “Merlin! Don’t remind me. That was so reckless. I would deduct 50 points from my past self.” He massaged his forehead in embarrassment.

Seonghwa laughed.

“Come on, we weren’t _that_ bad.”

“Oh, we were! You were insufferable.”

Seonghwa scoffed, pinching Hongjoong’s sides. “As were you!”

But he was grinning madly, remembering the shift in their relationship about two years ago, in their fifth year, when their rivalry had reached a peak as they both had become Prefects, and Captains of their respective Quidditch Teams. It had been a crazy year, not just because of Jongho’s and San’s secrets, but because Seonghwa had realized his feelings for Hongjoong. All those years he had spent hating Hongjoong had been transformed into his need to gain Hongjoong’s attention, growing slightly jealous when it wasn’t, until it all escalated around Christmas.

“What are you thinking about?” Hongjoong asked him, his eyes squinted as he glanced down at Seonghwa. “Why are you smiling like that?”

“Ah, I was thinking about our first kiss. Remember?”

Hongjoong sputtered. “You caught me off guard! I was so confused when you kissed me!”

“Really?” he drawled out, raising his eyebrows. “I thought, after all that tension, it was pretty obvious.”

“ _Pshaw_.” Hongjoong waved his hand dismissively. “I say, we were both clueless and dumb.”

Seonghwa huffed out a short laugh. “Can’t argue with that.”

They slowly fell into silence as the sky outside grew darker and darker, soon a grayish blue, clouds passing by speedily as wind seemed to have picked up. There were barely any villages or small towns around, only a sea of green surrounding the railroad: hills and meadows, and small forests expanding everywhere.

Seonghwa fell asleep at some point, comfortably resting against Hongjoong’s shoulder.

No one was surprised when Yunho received the position as Head Boy, though he was very surprised himself as he greatly had avoided any heavy responsibility despite being the most sensible one in their group—and seemingly in their year. Yeeun received the position as Head Girl, beaming brightly as she showed off the badge to her peers.

“I hate this,” Yunho bemoaned as he tiredly climbed on the last Hogwarts carriage. “Why me?”

“Because you secretly have been hoping to get it,” Mingi quipped, grinning when Yunho glared at him.

“Shut up.”

Mingi gasped in mock offense.

“Is that why you never participated in the pranking? Because you were waiting to become Head Boy?” Yeosang asked.

Yunho wrinkled his nose. “No. And I have done pranks, I just never get caught like you losers.” He grinned at the burst of protests.

“It’s true though,” Jongho said, sharing a complicit smile with Yunho. “He never gets caught, and Jungkook never snitches on us.”

“Of course he wouldn’t. He’s glad to have others to share his chaos with,” Wooyoung pointed out, shaking his head. “I might join you guys, I miss the pranking.” He sighed.

“No, no way,” Seonghwa scolded him. “We have our N.E.W.T.s to worry about!”

Wooyoung shrugged. “I can do both.”

“You can’t even do non-verbal spells,” Yeosang pointed out archly.

“That’s not _my_ fault,” Wooyoung defended himself. “How was I supposed to know that a wand made of Dogwood doesn’t work with non-verbal spells.”

“I did some research on them,” Seonghwa said. “They’re wands especially for mischievous spells and magic. I’m not surprised it chose you.”

Wooyoung grumbled imprecations under his breath.

Jongho cleared his throat, his playful demeanor vanishing. “Aside from school work and N.E.W.T.s we have Taeil’s message to worry about. We still don’t know what it means: ‘Ministry 13’.”

In the past few hours, ever since cracking the message, they hadn’t been able to advance with its meaning. Wooyoung’s step-aunt hadn’t known anything about it. Once again they were completely in the dark.

“I still think it could refer to a secret Department or something like that,” Yeosang said. “Thirteen is a superstitious number between Muggles, if the Order was inspired by Muggle occultism and many members are Muggles, it would make sense.”

“Maybe,” Yunho said. “It could also be a file hidden in the Department of Mysteries. Or it could be where Taeil was taken and he warned Jongho of his whereabouts.”

“How would he know where they are taking him _before_ taking him there?” Mingi countered. “The owl Jongho got was from the Ministry, he must have sent it off before he was kidnapped.”

“That’s true,” Yunho agreed, scratching his chin. “ _Agh_ , I don’t know.”

Yeosang hummed thoughtfully. “What if the thirteen is for a secret Level. There are nine official Levels plus Courtroom Ten. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Order managed to built in a secret Level below the Ministry. Think about it.”

“So… What you’re trying to say is that we have to sneak into the Ministry again?” Wooyoung questioned. “ _Great_. That’s absolutely great!”

“We’ve done it before, we can do it again,” Mingi said, convinced. “We can _Apparate_ now, it’ll make it so much easier.”

“You can’t use _Apparition_ in Hogwarts,” Hongjoong pointed out. “And don’t forget your unfortunate accident during summer.”

Mingi paled.

“But you can _Apparate_ in Hogsmeade and we know enough ways to get there completely unnoticed,” Yeosang reasoned.

Around them the scenery was changing, Hogsmeade Station disappearing until the Forbidden Forest was rising on the left side, Hogwarts was a bundle of flickering warm lights in the far distance. The air was chilly, summer bleeding into autumn. It was always colder at Hogwarts somehow, coldness clinging to the Great Lake and to the fog hanging between the Forbidden Forest.

Hongjoong scoffed. “Then what? We _Apparate_ into the Atrium? They have magic-sensors up that react to anyone appearing unannounced.”

Seonghwa contemplated his friends’s points. “We don’t have to sneak in.”

His friends looked at him in confusion.

“What are you saying?” Wooyoung asked.

“We are in our last year, and some of us want to _work_ in the Ministry. Wooyoung’s step-aunt works there, as does Hongjoong’s mom… We could try to convince them to take us there on a ‘field trip’ to get acquaintanced with it,” he explained.

“As if they would let us wander around unsupervised,” Hongjoong reasoned.

“Why not? Three of us are Prefects and Yunho’s Head Boy, we are quite respectable young men,” Jongho reasoned, slowly, as he painted out the idea in his mind. “It could work.”

“In case of emergency, someone could stay in Hogwarts to make sure the Floo Networkbetween Headmistress Min’s office and the Atrium works so we can travel through it,” Yeosang said. “If we have done it once, we should be able to do it twice.”

“I don’t like this ideology of ‘if we have done it once, we can do it twice’. I think we might be a little too overconfident here,” Hongjoong said, his arms crossed in front of his chest. “But alright, fine, let’s suppose we walk into the Ministry during the day, pretending to be interested in working there in a near future; how do we _stay_ there? How do we search for ‘Ministry 13’? We don’t even know if it’s a Department or a Level or something entirely different…”

“We could hide. I know some invisibility spells,” Wooyoung said.

“They would notice if magic is used, most of us are still under seventeen,” Hongjoong pointed out. “Specifically _you_ , Jongho, and I.”

Wooyoung grimaced.

“We could wait for Christmas,” Yunho reasoned. “Then Jongho would be the only one under seventeen, but one of us can perform the spell on him,” he continued, tapping his chin. “I’m pretty sure I have read about an invisibility potion too. I could look for it and brew us little flasks.”

Hongjoong shrugged, still unconvinced. “I don’t know… It’s dangerous.”

“It is. So was last year,” Seonghwa said.

“Joong,” Yunho said sternly. “From our first year to our fifth year we’ve been breaking the rules and dealing with danger. We _can_ do this.”

The Hufflepuff Prefect sighed. “ _Fine_.” He raised his hands in defeat. “Fine.”

“Now we just need to figure out what ‘Ministry 13’ _actually_ means,” Yeosang muttered. “I still believe it could be a secret Level.”

“Guys, quieten down, we are arriving at Hogwarts,” Wooyoung hissed.

Hogwarts was reaching tall and wide into the night sky, now covered in thick clouds, the lights that came from the castle looked like stars. After crossing the gates, the carriage stopped near the front courtyard, the large doors were open and giving way to the Entrance Hall, where students were piling up, mostly confused and scared first years.

With all the talking and planning, Seonghwa had completely forgotten where he was, too immersed in the conversation. With a sigh, he stepped down from the carriage, noticing only then that he was completely famished.

“Oh, _fuck_ ,” he muttered, rubbing his stomach.

“What’s wrong?” Hongjoong asked in worry.

“I’m starving!”

The Hufflepuff eyed him, unimpressed. “You should’ve had a snack during the train ride then.”

Seonghwa mimicked him annoyedly, rolling his eyes. Hongjoong squinted at him, about to retort with something, but Yunho jumped in, talking loudly over the tension.

“ _Boys_ ,” Yunho said. “Don’t make me use my Head Boy voice.”

“Head Boy voice,” Hongjoong repeated with a scoff.

“Let’s go before all the good spots are taken,” Jongho said, ushering the seventh years toward the Entrance Hall. “And before someone commits murder because they’re hungry.”

**~*~**

_Potions_ remained one of Hongjoong’s favorite class, but the seventh year surely had changed his favoritism a little. For starters, it was far harder than the previous years, Professor Shin Wonhee wasn’t going easy on them, and the fact that Seonghwa had stopped taking the class definitely made Hongjoong a little sad.

With the approach November, it was colder than ever in the Dungeons of Hogwarts. The students shivered, teeth chattering, as they entered the _Potions_ classroom that morning. The scent of breakfast and coffee still hung in the corridors as the Kitchens were nearby.

Mingi yawned, plopping down in the back of the class, next to Yeosang, who didn’t look any less tired. Hongjoong wondered what the two of them had been up to the day before after the Hogsmeade trip had come to an end. They were an odd couple, often disappearing for hours—which Wooyoung loved to tease them about. Mingi insisted they only went for walks through the castle and its grounds.

Hongjoong was a bit jealous, the only time he could hangout with Seonghwa nowadays was whenever they had Prefect patrols together.

“Everyone, grab a partner,” Professor Shin spoke up, clapping her hands in delight. “Today we are going to learn a difficult but very useful potion, especially for those that want to become Aurors.” At that, Hongjoong’s interest and attention perked up. Despite his thoughts regarding becoming a _Music_ professor at Hogwarts, he still had thoughts about following into his mom’s steps. He sat down next to Yunho. “It’s a potion used to reveal secret messages on parchment. It can be tricky, though, since the parchment has to be sufficiently thick and rough to resist the liquid. Otherwise, it should be ruined. Below your desks you should find the parchments needed and the special ink that disappears seconds after being used.”

The students began moving with lazy and tired movements as Professor Shin wrote down the ingredients and instructions of the potion on the green board.

“One of you should write down a message on the parchment that you’ll practice the potion on toward the end of the class,” Professor Shin said. “Don’t tell your partner!”

Yunho wandered off to gather their ingredients. Hongjoong grabbed the inkwell with the special ink, dipping his quill into it. He unrolled the parchment and scribbled down his own name and Yunho’s name, the ink disappeared within seconds, as if it melted into the paper.

He hummed, an idea forming in his mind.

“Yunho?”

“Yes?” The Gryffindor was chopping up something on the chopping board with a concentrated look on his face.

“What do you think the odds are of the Ministry using this special ink?”

“Huh?” Yunho glanced at him, then down at the seemingly empty parchment. “What do you mean?”

Hongjoong felt out the parchment, its material felt familiar in his fingers. “Well, let’s say you are investigating a very dangerous group of people and expect to be taken by them, sending out an owl with clues to someone you trust.” Yunho’s face flickered with understanding. “And you had a special kind of ink that can only be revealed with a very specific potion…”

“You think Taeil left a secret message on his letter?”

“No. Not his letter.” Hongjoong shook his head. “The Ministry’s official letters are sent with a special kind of parchment: thicker than that of regular letters. I think he might have left a message on the second owl Jongho received. He _knew_ he was going to be taken, getting too close to the Order. He might have left two different kind of messages, in case one was intercepted.”

Yunho’s eyes were wide. “It does sound plausible. We should give it a try.” He patted Hongjoong’s shoulder. “Nice work, Joong.”

“I hope we find something.”

Before Professor Shin could scold them for their amicable chatting, Hongjoong flicked his wand to turn on the fire.

“Has your mom responded to your letter?” Yunho asked after a while, putting his chopped ingredients into their cauldron.

“Not yet. But I don’t see why she should turn down our request.”

Yunho sighed, his face suddenly somber. “It worries me that Taeil hasn’t been found. I’ve been thinking that maybe we were the only ones to receive these clues, that there was no one for him to trust except for Jongho. Which is worrisome, to say the least.”

“I know,” Hongjoong agreed. “But we can’t think like that. Even if Jongho was the only to receive these clues, he _did_ receive them, we are working on solving this. There’s still hope.”

Yunho moved the wooden spoon clockwise, worriedly biting his lower lip. “What if he’s dead?”

Hongjoong had thought about that too.

“Even if he is, we can’t stop searching for him,” he said decidedly, pulling up his sleeves to avoid them dipping into the cauldron and getting ruined. “I’ll talk to Seonghwa during _Charms_ , tell him of our plan. Are you sure you can brew this potion perfectly out of class?”

Yunho scoffed, mildly offended. “Who do you think I am?”

“We’ve got one shot at this, Yunho, if the potion isn’t perfect it probably could ruin the parchment forever.”

Yunho pressed his lips together, pointedly chopping more ingredients on the board as he glared at Hongjoong, his pride hurt.

“ _I got this_ ,” he hissed.

When Hongjoong explained Seonghwa of his idea, the Ravenclaw was impressed, praising Hongjoong for his intelligence, which made Hongjoong blush a bright red. It was incredibly pleasing to be praised by Seonghwa he had come to realize.

Once _Charms_ was over, they had one last class before their lunch break. It was his favorite class: _Music_ , with his favorite professor. He shared it with Slytherins and Gryffindors mostly, and, as he wasn’t particularly close to any students in his class, he let his mind drift of, wondering if he had been right in his assumptions about Taeil leaving an invisible and secret message on the second letter Jongho had gotten in May.

As he pondered these questions, gazing out of the window, he felt the necklace around his neck become a pleasant warmth: Seonghwa was thinking about him. He hid his smile in the palm of his hand, cheeks burning with a blush. He couldn’t wait for the class to come to an end so he could kiss him.

They met in the classroom on the fourth floor after inhaling their lunch; they had received some odd and suspicious glances from their peers for fleeing the Great Hall so quickly.

“So why exactly are we meeting here?” asked Jongho after they had settled down around the large table. He had brought both letters, and put them down on the table. He eyed the seventh years curiously. “Yeosang said something about a potion?” he inquired, glancing at Yunho, who was the expert in anything that had to do with potions.

“Yes,” the tall Gryffindor nodded. “A potion that can reveal invisible messages written with a special kind of ink,” he revealed.

Jongho’s mouth parted in a silent gasp. He looked down at the two envelops. “You think Taeil left a message on them?”

“On the Ministry one. The paper should be thick enough to hold it,” Hongjoong explained. “Otherwise the liquid of the potion would just ruin the paper.”

“Kind of like watercolors,” Wooyoung muttered. “They only work well on a very specific, thick paper.”

“I have asked Professor Shin to take a flask with me,” Yunho explained, carefully pulling it out of his school bag and placed it on the table in front of them. “She was very pleased with the result so it should work on the letter, if there truly is a secret message.”

“Alright, let’s test it out,” said Seonghwa eagerly.

Yunho unscrewed the potion, cautiously pouring a little bit of it on the Ministry letter, letting it expand until it had covered pretty much all corners. The seven boys stared at it in apprehensive and excited silence. At first nothing happened and Hongjoong deflated, feeling utterly disappointed in himself.

“Maybe Yunho brewed the potion wrong?” Wooyoung said.

“Yunho never brews a potion wrong,” Mingi interjected, heatedly defending his friend, “ _and_ Professor Shin said it was good.”

Wooyoung held up his hands defensively. “Alright, alright. Sorry.”

“Guys!” Jongho exclaimed, pointing at the parchment: there were numbers appearing, faint and barely visible. “ _Lumos_ ,” he muttered, pointing his wand underneath the parchment so they could read it better.

Seonghwa squinted his eyes, a frown appearing between his brows. “5-0-7-1-3,” he read out loud.

Yeosang pointed at a row below the numbers, where more invisible ink was being revealed. “‘Ministry, Level 13’,” he read, his excitement barely contained. “I knew it! I knew it had to be a secret Level!”

“Holy shit,” Wooyoung muttered. “We actually found a secret message.”

“What do the numbers mean?” Mingi questioned.

“I’m guessing it’s a code to access the Level,” said Seonghwa. “Possibly for the elevator.”

Mingi nodded. “Makes sense.”

“So, we solved it. We _definitely_ need to make a trip to the Ministry now,” Wooyoung muttered. “I still think our previous plan, asking my aunt or Hongjoong’s mom to give us a tour, might work.”

Seonghwa was scratching his chin. “I have to agree. It’s the least dangerous way to sneak in and out. The last time it only worked because we had someone on the inside help us out, and because the Order _needed_ us to sneak in and out. We might be at an advantage now: they don’t know that _we_ _know_.”

“My mom did say she was open to give us a tour during the holidays, I’ll write her again to settle for a date,” Hongjoong said.

“I will write my aunt, just in case,” Wooyoung added. Then, with impossibly pleading, warm eyes, he asked, “Can I write San? He could join us, the more help the better.”

“How will he get into the Ministry, he’s supposedly dead,” said Mingi, trying not to sound too harsh, but it was the truth. It could potentially sabotage their mission.

“I can cast an invisibility spell on him,” Wooyoung assured the Hufflepuff, his arms crossed in front of his chest challengingly.

Yeosang hummed. “I don’t know, Woo. They’re hard to cast, a lot of things can go wrong. Remember that one time when you cast that spell on us and—“

“That was one time!” Wooyoung hissed, interrupting his friend.

“That was multiple times,” Jongho interjected.

Wooyoung scoffed, offended at the accusations, although they were true and he knew it.

“I have been working on perfecting my invisibility potion,” said Yunho, gaining the boys’s attention on him. “When we first discussed this, upon our arrival, I did mention the potion, and ever since then I’ve been brewing it and testing it out on myself to make sure I can perfect it in case we needed it,” he explained. “And,” he added, glancing at Wooyoung, “I had a feeling Woo might want San to join us…”

Wooyoung shot Yunho a grateful smile.

“Then it’s settled. We go into the Ministry during the holidays, either accompanied by Eunmi or Haneul,” Seonghwa recapped. “Until then we should prepared ourselves, hatch out a perfect plan and make sure we don’t forget anything. Our last trip to the Ministry might have gone well, but it’s not an assurance that we well encounter the same kind of luck this time.”

There was a general affirmation, everyone on board with the idea.

“And we shouldn’t forget our studies,” Hongjoong reminded them sternly. “They’re just as essential!”

Wooyoung rolled his eyes. “Yes, Prefect.”

Hongjoong scowled. “I’m just making sure we all pass our N.E.W.T.s!”

“Yeah, yeah, and we appreciate you for it,” Wooyoung muttered, patting Hongjoong’s shoulder amicably.

Hongjoong glowered at him, but soon there was a pleased smile on his face.

“We should start meeting here from now on to plan this,” Seonghwa interrupted the playful banter between his friends. “Even if not all of us, but those of us who can. We’ll keep each other updated.”

“Roger that,” Yunho said, mimicking a salute gesture.

“Who is Roger?” Mingi asked, mildly affronted.

“No one,” Jongho said, his shoulders easing as a smile appeared on his face. He wasn’t alone with this, he had his friends. “It’s a Muggle expression.”

* * *

**Part 3. December, 7th Year at Hogwarts**

_A sacrifice is required to stop the Darkness_

_From ever spreading further; hollow is the soul that contains it._

After Hufflepuff’s incredible victory against Gryffindor—the previous year’s champion—Seonghwa felt a bit pressured to train his team harder than before. Sure, he was dating the Captain of the Hufflepuff Quidditch Team, but there was _no way_ that he would let Hongjoong win against them. Their rivalry sparked around Quidditch, much to Yunho’s chagrin, who had hoped them dating would completely put their rivalry to a stop.

Seonghwa was a bit glad their competitiveness wasn’t extinguished. He still got a kick out of verbally teasing Hongjoong, both of them dangerously close to flirting. It was a strange territory to anyone who wasn’t them, he supposed, but it was very rewarding riling Hongjoong up. It led to many heated making out sessions.

Wooyoung was pretty much the only one who had caught up on that, wrinkling his nose in disgust, but secretly asking Seonghwa about it, wanting all details to satisfy his impossibly curious nature. There was no doubt San knew all about it too, if the saucy winks he texted Seonghwa every now and then, especially in front at the mention of Hongjoong’s name, were any indication.

“Captain, I’m _dying_!” Changbin complained, whining.

It was raining, the sky minutes away from darkening, but Seonghwa was firm and stern, keeping his team out on the Quidditch field for a little more time. He hadn’t learned that spell to see in the dark in his fifth year—which he had used at the time for a secret Quidditch match against Hongjoong—to let it go to waste now.

“Don’t be dramatic, Seo!” Yeeun shot back, rolling her eyes.

“I do agree that he’s pushing us a lot,” complained Choi Yerim, one of the team’s Chasers.

“Well, you know how it is, he has to beat his boyfriend,” added Ha Sooyoung, another Chaser. She shook her head, an amused smile curling on her lips. “At least they’re not killing each other.”

“True that, true that,” muttered Yerim.

Overhead, dark clouds were darkening the night earlier than usual, lightning hushed through them, thunder followed seconds later, still hovering in the distance coming from the Black Lake. The rain fell harder, gaining a collective groan from the players, many complaining to their Captain as wind was starting to sweep inland, making it harder and harder to play.

“Alright,” Seonghwa shouted over the weather. “Everyone, we’re stopping!”

“Finally!” Changbin cried, high-fiving Choi Yeonjun, the third Chaser.

Seonghwa watched as his teammates landed around the Quidditch field, not wasting any time and heading directly toward the changing rooms. One last figure was struggling to land, wind whipping them around. Seonghwa recognized that golden hair, moving in the approaching storm.

“Yeosang!” he called out, mounting his broom to help his friend, but it was in vain. Helplessly, Seonghwa watched Yeosang land roughly near one of the stands, collapsing on his knees as he held his arm cautiously. “Yeosang?”

“I’m fine,” came his deep, faint voice. “I think I broke my arm.”

“ _Shit_.” Seonghwa helped him up, levitating their brooms and have them follow them to the changing rooms. He helped Yeosang sit down at one of the benches outside, removing his arm from around his friend’s waist so he could inspect his arm. “Damn it.”

“It’s fine,” Yeosang assured him. “It’s not the worst wound I’ve gotten. Remember when Mingi’s Maker clawed at my leg? That was way worse.”

Seonghwa pressed his lips together. “Even if it’s not the worse wound, it’s my fault you’re injured.”

Yeosang scoffed, abstaining himself from fully rolling his eyes. “Whatever. Madame Eunji will fix this easily.”

“Still.” Seonghwa nibbled anxiously on his bottom lip. “We’re going to the Ministry in three days, you won’t be healed by then…”

Yeosang scratched his neck, scowling. “I’ll stay back, help you from here,” he muttered. “Help me get to Madame Eunji’s; and don’t worry so much, Seonghwa. We’ve all grown, not just you. You don’t have to constantly look after us.”

With a sigh, Seonghwa helped him up again. Silently, they walked to the castle, through the Entrance Hall and toward the Infirmary. It was quite empty, naturally, as Christmas was only four days away, most students were leaving the following morning; no one fancied spending the holidays in the Infirmary.

“What happened to him?” Madame Eunji rushed over, helping Yeosang settle on one of the beds. She took one look at their Quidditch uniforms. “Mr Park, mind explaining?”

“We were out late… I pushed them a little more than I should have. The storm got to him before he could land safely,” Seonghwa told her, feeling slightly ashamed under her scolding eyes.

She sighed, inspecting Yeosang’s arm.

“Get to dinner,” she told Seonghwa. “I’ll fix him in no time.”

**~*~**

At first Haneul was meant to accompany them and give them the tour through the Ministry, but a last minute mission of great importance had come in between and she’d had to take back her offer. Hongjoong had pretended not to be bothered by it, but Seonghwa had sensed the disappointment; it wasn’t the first time and it certainly wouldn’t be the last that Haneul’s work came in between. Thankfully, Wooyoung’s step-aunt had agreed to tour them, positively excited about the idea.

It was early afternoon when the tour through the Ministry came to an end, but Eunmi had promised them that they could wander around on their own accord for a while. It hadn’t taken as much persuasion as Seonghwa had initially thought. Eunmi was a very stern woman, but she had an incredible soft spot for Wooyoung.

With a gentle pat on Wooyoung’s shoulder, Eunmi smiled at the boys. “Don’t get up to any shenanigans while I head back to work.”

Hongjoong grimaced, hiding it quickly.

Wooyoung shot his step-aunt an innocent smile—Seonghwa was amazed, his friend’s ability to lie astounded him. “I swear we won’t!”

“If you want to leave just speak with the receptionist, he will open the Floo Network back to Hogwarts for you.” Eunmi gave her goodbyes to the rest of the boys and walked off, toward the elevators to reach her Level.

“Should we go then?” San asked in a whisper, startling Hongjoong.

“Merlin!”

“Oops, sorry,” San apologized. Though Seonghwa couldn’t see him, he could hear the amusement in his voice.

For the past two hours, San had trailed after them silently, the invisibility potion Yunho had brewed for him had worked perfectly. Since San lived near the Ministry, he had come using public transportation, and sneaked in through the main Floo Network together with other visitors and Ministry workers, taking the potion beforehand as Yunho had sent it to him through mail a few days ago. Seonghwa had been tense through the whole tour, fearing the effect might cease sooner than planned, but thankfully that scenario hadn’t occurred, and in Yunho’s backpack, in between the snacks he had brought, was a second potion to undo the invisibility.

“Now we have to make sure we’re alone in the elevator,” Hongjoong said.

“Shouldn’t be a problem,” Jongho said. “It’ll be crowded enough with all of us inside that anyone would wait for the next elevator.”

The six boys headed over to the elevators, where Eunmi had disappeared to minutes ago, and waited in line. Some Ministry workers shot them curious looks. It was lunch break, so many of them were heading to the Level where the cafeteria was located at.

“What a surprising sight!” said a young woman in her twenties. “What brings you boys here?”

“Ah.” Seonghwa shot her a polite smile. “We’ve come from Hogwarts for a tour around the Ministry,” he explained to her. “Some of us are thinking of working here once we absolve our N.E.W.T.s!”

“It’s been five years since I did mine, but I sometimes still have nightmares that I fail them.” She laughed.

Hongjoong gave an awkward laugh of his own.

“Sorry, that’s probably not very encouraging. I wish you the best of luck!” She waved at them before entering the elevator with a group of other workers.

Once it was their turn inside the elevator, no one followed them, as Jongho had predicted, and they waited until the metal doors closed. Briefly, they stood in tense silence; then, Wooyoung reached out his hand, typing in the five digit code that was supposedly meant to take them to Level 13.

_5-7-0-1-3_

The elevator’s door closed and it rattled alive, but nothing happened.

“Type it in again,” San told the Gryffindor.

“Okay.”

But before Wooyoung could do so, the elevator suddenly dropped, making them stumble and crash against its walls.

Wooyoung cursed. “Maybe we broke it.”

“I don’t think so,” Hongjoong whispered, pointing at the small window in the elevator: they were passing through a narrow, cavernous looking tunnel, dim lights attached to the walls. It looked like a very unstable and dangerous subway tunnel. “I think it worked.”

“Holy shit,” Jongho muttered, wide eyed.

When the elevator finally stopped, its door opening after a _ding_ —which sounded dramatically loud—they found themselves in front of a large room, the walls reached so far up that they couldn’t see the ceiling. The walls were of a shrill white and the floor had black and white tiles, similar to those of a kitchen. Lamps were attached to the walls every few steps, not as dim as in the tunnel, but it was still very dark around them. The room gave way to a narrow corridor that was too far to see where it would lead them.

“Here we go, I guess,” Yunho muttered nervously.

“Merlin,” Wooyoung whispered, his voice shaky. “What do we even _look_ for?”

“Anything that looks like a prison cell,” Jongho said decidedly. “We have to find Taeil and get him out of here. We need him if we want to take out the Order. He should be our priority.”

Before they continued, Yunho took out the potion to undo invisibility and held it out for San to take. It was eerie to see the flask float in the air, the top being unscrewed by invisible hands. Out of thin air, San began to materialize, his nose scrunched up in disgust.

“Any way to make these taste better?” he asked.

“Nope,” Yunho replied. “Sorry, buddy.”

They started walking toward the corridor, their wands ready to perform magic. They walked across the room until they reached the corridor, which had walls made of rock and the ground was poorly cemented. The lights stopped at some point, forcing them to cast the _Lumos_ spell. Seonghwa was incredibly wary about using any spells since the Ministry had wards up that alarmed them of magic being used, but somehow he had a feeling these wards didn’t apply down there, where the Order secretly resided.

“Whoever designed this place had a shit taste,” Wooyoung muttered. “It’s like a cavern.”

“Well, we _are_ underground, what did you expect?” Jongho said.

“Wait,” San whispered, remembering something. “Say that again.”

Jongho frowned. “What?”

“Not you, Jongho; I meant Wooyoung.”

“Uh…” The Gryffindor tilted his head. “It’s like a cavern?”

“Cavernous,” San said. “In your vision you said something about cavernous.”

“ _From inside Law the Order rises, cavernous_ ,” Seonghwa recalled. “If you think of the Ministry as the Law, the Order of Lilith rising within it.”

“Oh.” Wooyoung gasped. “Of course. I… I remember now. The images I saw in the vision, they didn’t make sense at the time, but I remember seeing tunnels and dark, hidden ceilings. I think I saw us here.”

“Does that mean we’re on the right track?” Hongjoong wondered.

Yunho grimaced. “I hope so.”

“Whatever it means, it’s true to Wooyoung’s vision,” Seonghwa said. “The last lines were: _A sacrifice is required to stop the Darkness from ever spreading further; hollow is the soul that contains it._ So take that as you will.”

“I admit it doesn’t sound too great,” Wooyoung muttered.

Before they could further discuss the Gryffindor’s vision, the corridor’s end was in sight, a dim light spilling into the tunnel. When they reached its mouth, they found themselves confronted with an enormous room with several layers going up and down, some invisible to their eyes as the darkness around was too dense, but Seonghwa could see little tunnel entrances like the one they had just exited everywhere. There was no other word to this describe this room other than _cavernous_.

Yunho let out a gasp, completely struck.

“Wow,” Jongho breathed.

“Yeah, this is quite impressive,” San agreed. “Where to we even begin to search for Taeil?”

“There has to be a control room or an archive,” Seonghwa said, pulling his eyes away from the magnitude in front of them. “There should be a map or something.”

“I think it’s time we split up,” San said. His words were met with protests and agreements. “It’ll be more advantageous if we do.”

“Fine,” Hongjoong agreed, grimacing. “I’ll go with Seonghwa.”

“I’ll come with you. We’ll search the right side,” Yunho said. “You three take the left side. Remember that our safety is the most important thing.”

“Yes,” Jongho agreed. He squeezed the tall Gryffindor’s shoulder, smiling nervously at him. “See you later.”

“See you later,” Yunho whispered.

Seonghwa hugged his friends goodbye, not able to speak much, he was far too anxious. As the two groups separated, he grabbed Hongjoong’s hand to hold it. The Hufflepuff gave him a distracted but warm smile.

They walked to the right, searching for indications or patterns or anything else that might indicate them where they could find prison cells or a map. There wasn’t much they could find though. They decided to walk up to a second level.

“This sucks,” Yunho protested quietly.

Hongjoong hummed absentmindedly. He was studying their surroundings carefully and deliberately. Seonghwa could practically see the wheels in his brain turn.

“I don’t like how empty this is,” he muttered. “Where _is_ everyone?”

“Well, it is the holidays,” Yunho started. “Perhaps they’re on leave.”

“You think an evil organization takes holiday breaks?” Hongjoong wondered, dubious.

Yunho shrugged. “Why not?”

“I’m sure we’ll bump into danger sooner or later,” Seonghwa said grimly. “Let’s keep our eyes open for any danger.”

Hongjoong squeezed his hand. Seonghwa glanced at him to find Hongjoong smiling at him reassuringly. He mouthed, ‘thank you’, his shoulders relaxing a little. No matter what would happen, he had Hongjoong by his side, together they could defeat any evil. In the face of danger, there wasn’t any place Seonghwa would rather find himself than by Hongjoong’s side.

They reached a sort of crossroad: one path leading further down, where more labyrinths of tunnels and caves expanded, another one lead to upper floors—but they could see their friends in the distance, exploring the upper levels already—and a third one that led toward a very dark corridor that didn’t look too safe. With a dejected sigh, they took the one leading down, further underground.

In complete and tense silence they advanced, not encountering a single soul. Seonghwa wondered what that was about.

“ _Whoah_!” Hongjoong choked out, slipping on loose pebbles, and fell down, dragging Seonghwa with him. They landed in a mess of entangled limbs. “Sorry, I was pacing out.”

Yunho helped them up, glancing around nervously.

Seonghwa was about to ask him what was making him so nervous when he heard it: crawling and hissing noises that came from all tunnels. The hairs on the nape of his neck stood up, a shill running down his spine. The sounds came closer and closer.

“We should get out of here,” Yunho muttered warily.

“Yep.” Hongjoong pointed at a cave at Yunho’s back: a six legged creature with glowing yellow eyes came out of it, it had a hairy brown body, similar to a spider, but it was a lot bigger, about the size of a house friendly dog.

“What the—“ Seonghwa cursed, drawing out his wand. “ _Stupefy_!” The creature flew back, but soon the walls were crawling with them, all coming out from the numerous tunnels.

“ _Run_!” Yunho cried, heading up a corridor in front of them, casting spell after spell to clear their way.

Hongjoong and Seonghwa blindly cast spells behind themselves in the hopes to slow those creatures down.

“What in Merlin’s name are those?!”

“I have no idea!” Seonghwa answered. “Professor Namjoon has never mentioned them!”

They ran ahead but were faced with a dead end: the tunnel was swarmed with the six legged monsters, hissing and making strange clicking noises with their mouths. It was both threatening and gross.

“There! A cave!” Hongjoong yelled, pointing at a dark cave entrance hidden behind a large rock formation. It didn’t look particularly stable, but it was better than the mob of cave creatures surrounding them.

Hongjoong grabbed Seonghwa’s wrist, steering him toward the corridor. Yunho was already ahead of them, casting non-verbal spells at the creatures to keep them away from them. One of his spells hit the side of the cave, bouncing off it. The rocky walls shook, pebbles falling off until a larger rock came loose, missing Hongjoong and Seonghwa by not much.

“Sorry!” Yunho cried, eyes widened in shock.

“It’s alright!” Seonghwa shouted back. “At least it stalled them!”

But he regretted his words seconds later as more and more rocks came loose from the walls, raining down on them, pebbles and soil covering his hair and shoulders. Hongjoong leaped forward, dragging Seonghwa with him, and they crashed into Yunho, all three of them falling onto the ground.

Soon the entrance of the cave was covered by rocks, darkness surrounding them.

They untangled from one another, sitting up.

“At least these nasty creatures can’t follow us anymore,” Yunho whispered.

“That was close,” Hongjoong murmured. “We shouldn’t cast any spells anymore, these walls are unstable.”

As he was checking himself for wounds, Seonghwa said, “I agree. That was dangerous.”

“Well, I didn’t know the ceiling would collapse on us,” Yunho protested.

“It’s not your fault. We couldn’t have known.”

Seonghwa stood up, helping Hongjoong up, and glanced around himself.

There was no sound in the dark cave—it was almost hauntingly quiet. Seonghwa let out a sigh of relief, already thinking himself safe (or as safe as they could be right now). His relief was short lived as a low and guttural growl rumbled, and the ground under their feet rattled, more pebbles coming off the cavern’s walls.

“That doesn’t sound particularly inviting,” Yunho mumbled under his breath.

“ _Lumos_ ,” Hongjoong whispered.

Rocks upon rocks and farther away twisty, narrow tunnel entrances were in front of them, but by the right of the cavern, hidden behind a large rock, peeked out a gray looking, indistinguishable _something_. Upon closer inspection, Seonghwa could faintly make out scales dusted with soil and soot. He swallowed.

“Hongjoong, raise your wand a bit,” he asked, but there was no need to, the Hufflepuff had noticed that strange _something_ too.

Soon Seonghwa realized it was a paw. An enormous paw with razor sharp claws, a head lying on it—and the second hidden one—with squinted amber eyes that flashed dangerously in the _Lumos_ spell.

 _A dragon_ , Seonghwa though hysterically at the same time as Yunho hissed, “That’s a dragon, isn’t it? Well—” His voice faded in muttered imprecations.

“Shit! _Nox_!” Hongjoong pressed himself to the side of the cavern, out of eyeshot of the large reptilian creature, but it was too late. The dragon growled once again, awakened by the fall of the rocks that had cut them off from their friends—and _exit_ , Seonghwa realized agitated—and now further bothered by the _Lumos_ spell and their distressed voices.

“ _Shit, fuck_ ,” Yunho kept cursing lowly under his breath.

It was very unlike him to swear, which only unsettled Seonghwa more. They weren’t sufficiently trained to face a full grown dragon. Hogwarts didn’t prepare them for this since most dragons lived in the wild and a wizard had to be extremely stupid to confront one.

Seonghwa stayed quiet, terrified, as his mind rattled awake, out of its shock and the tiredness of the tumultuous morning they’d had, and he thought about everything he knew about dragons—which mostly were fascinating facts and a very cool image. Nothing helpful like a spell to put a dragon to sleep, or make his skin resistant to a dragon’s fire came to his mind—there was the _Draco Medicor_ spell, to cure an injury caused by its fire.

“What do we do?” Hongjoong asked no one in particular.

The dragon kept waking and grumbling, its enormous paws and claws scraping against the cavern’s floor, its wings gracing the walls (and ceiling probably) as it stretched out and prepared itself to kill them. _Lovely_ , Seonghwa thought sarcastically. Momentarily, he possessed the ability to frown and curse Wooyoung for being infectious in his habits. Seonghwa wasn’t one to be sarcastic in a dreadful situation, _god damn it_!

His friends… He would probably never see them again. There was no way they’d survive this. If Seonghwa, Hongjoong, and Yunho had stumbled upon a fully grown dragon; who knew what his friends were confronting: What other horrors had the Order of Lilith hidden beneath the Ministry? What other monstrosities were hiding in this cavernous labyrinth?

He shuddered.

“We have to get out of here,” Seonghwa said, his voice hoarse and so foreign to himself.

“Yeah, no shit,” Hongjoong hissed.

Seonghwa glared at him. “Well, then, do you have any genius ideas?”

Hongjoong opened his mouth, a jab ready at the tip of his tongue, but Yunho interrupted them. “Please, shut up! We don’t have time for one of your quarrels.”

Seonghwa looked away from his boyfriend. “Sorry,” he muttered.

“What do we do?” Hongjoong asked again. “He’ll soon be fully awake, and then we’ll be turned to ashes.”

“Maybe one of those tunnels?” Yunho suggested pointing at the other end of the cavern, past the dragon.

“And then what? We walk through dark underground tunnels that could be hiding Merlin knows what?”

“They could lead out of here,” Seonghwa agreed with Yunho. He pointed at the cemetery of skeletons. “Someone _has_ to be feeding the dragon. It could be through those tunnels.”

Hongjoong ran a distressed hand through his black hair, looking at the dragon, at the tunnels, and lastly at his friends.

“Alright,” he said. “I don’t have a better idea. If we die,” he added warningly, “I’m killing both of you.”

The corner of Seonghwa’s lips quirked up. “I’d like to see you try.”

He searched Hongjoong’s hand again, squeezing it comfortingly in his. Whatever was going to happen, they were together.

“Seems like you got your date,” Hongjoong muttered.

Seonghwa turned to look at him in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“During summer you said something along the lines of: _Even fighting a dragon would be great as long as I’m with you_.”

Seonghwa squinted his eyes, lips pressed together. “Ha ha, very funny.”

“You’re both so weird,” Yunho mumbled, exasperated. “We’ll need a diversion or we will become dragon food, and that’s definitely not the holiday vibe I was going for.”

“Perhaps we could make some of the ceiling collapse on the dragon and distract it,” Hongjoong said.

“Too dangerous.” Seonghwa shook his head. “We could end up burying ourselves.”

“We need a plan, quick, the dragon is—“ But Yunho’s words got swallowed by the loud roar of the dragon, now fully awake with its head turned towards them. “Oh, fuck,” he muttered, eyes wide in horror.

The dragon moved its head down, facing them, and roared again, knocking them back with the force of it. There was no way they could make it toward the tunnels on the other end, there was no place to hide or sneak around toward their objective.

The dragon stood on all fours, its head leaned back as its throat glowed golden through its dusty scales, fire rising up towards its mouth. It was a frightening sight as much as it was incredibly fascinating too.

“What do we do?!” Hongjoong cried hoarsely in desperation, standing up.

“I—“ Seonghwa was at a loss. Slowly, the realization that they were probably going to die there sank in. He glanced at Hongjoong, wanting to tell him how much he loved him, but the words died on his throat as he watched in horror how the flames reached the dragon’s mouth, shooting towards them.

On instinct Seonghwa surged forward, the heat of the fire nearly suffocating him, and grabbed Hongjoong’s wrist and then held onto Yunho’s arm with his other hand. He closed his eyes, visualizing a familiar building toward which he held many fond and warm memories, and soon enough the ground beneath his feet disappeared, as though he was being sucked into the void. He felt dizzy and nauseous, but he never let go of his friends.

The next thing he knew, there was something icy cold and wet underneath his knees and he tumbled over, a mess of limbs on top of him. Seonghwa still had his eyes shut tightly, the heat of the dragon’s fire present in his mind, a stark contrast to the cold snow he was now lying on.

A sob followed by a painful moan made him snap his eyes open.

They were in Hogsmeade, lying outside of _The Three Broomsticks_. Over them the sky was dark and cloudy, soft snow falling all around them, the street lamp bathed them in warm light, but the beauty of the small town turned cold the moment Seonghwa focused his gaze on Hongjoong.

Hongjoong was lying next to him, holding his left arm, his face contorted in pain. Smoke was arising from his arm. Yunho untangled himself from Seonghwa, immediately crouching net to Hongjoong.

“What happened?! Hongjoong!”

“D-Dragon fire,” Hongjoong murmured between sobs.

Seonghwa crawled over to his boyfriend, tiredly after having _Apparated_ with two people for such a long distance. He hadn’t actually thought it would work, but in between the shock it had been the only idea to cross his mind to get them out of the cavern.

With shaking hands, Seonghwa got out his wand, pointing it at the injured arm. It was black as coal, covered with soil and soot, the clothes around it were burned off, still smoking. For a split second, Seonghwa’s mind was completely empty, then, as if someone had hit restart, his whole body and mind woke up.

“ _Draco Medicor_!” he rushed out in a whisper, pointing his wand at Hongjoong’s arm. Light poured out of its tip, slowly healing the wound, but it wasn’t enough, so he tried again and again until Hongjoong stopped crying, his breathing evening out.

“Thank you,” Hongjoong whispered, voice thin and shaky, but when he opened his eyes, icy tears dancing in their warmth, he seemed to be okay.

Seonghwa swallowed, the tension and fear leaving him in a _whoosh_ , and he began trembling, tears welling up in his own eyes as the shock subdued.

He whispered something, possibly Hongjoong’s name, and leaned down to kiss him.

Yunho stepped away, his voice quiet and muffled. Seonghwa saw a silver animal disappear into the night, undoubtedly to warn their friends back in the caverns about their current whereabouts.

Seonghwa hoped Wooyoung, San, and Jongho were having better luck than them.

“You saved us,” Hongjoong murmured in awe.

“Barely,” Seonghwa said, his forehead resting against Hongjoong’s. “I didn’t think it would work. It could have gone wrong in so many ways—”

“But you succeeded. We’re safe.” With his uninjured hand he softly held Seonghwa’s face, wiping the tears away. “You got us out of there alive.”

“Not all of us,” Seonghwa said, his throat constricting.

The Quidditch changing rooms smelled faintly of leather and humidity, but it was so comforting after everything they had just been through. Seonghwa still couldn’t believe they had made it out of those cavernous tunnels alive—they had escaped a dragon, _a dragon!_

(Yeosang would flip out once Seonghwa would get a chance to retell his side of the adventure. They both loved dragons; _in theory_ , Seonghwa thought meekly now.)

Wooyoung, San, and Jongho looked exhausted, scratches and minor wounds covering their body, but otherwise they seemed alright. They hadn’t spoken yet about what they had encountered below the Ministry, but considering Seonghwa, Hongjoong, and Yunho had had an unfriendly run in with a grown dragon, it certainly hadn’t been a cheerful or peachy adventure.

The three of them had appeared about half an hour after Seonghwa had _Apparated_ with Hongjoong and Yunho in Hogsmeade, shaken and shocked, but alive and seemingly unharmed.

“What happened to him?” San had asked worriedly when he’d seen Hongjoong’s injured arm.

“We’ll explain later,” Yunho had muttered. “We should get somewhere less exposed.”

His words had galvanized them and they had headed over to the _Shrieking Shack_ to take the tunnel that led to the Whomping Willow to reunite with their friends by the Quidditch changing rooms. Yeosang and Mingi were on their way to them, bringing snacks and drinks for them.

It was a quiet night, snow falling slowly outside, and, although it wasn’t even midnight yet, it was incredibly dark and silent, no students wandering about except for them, which Seonghwa was grateful for. He wasn’t sure he had the energy to come up with a plausible lie for their disarrayed and wounded states—or for San’s appearance, which would cause a lot of havoc if he was seen: for everyone outside their small group of friends he was a ghost that had moved on to the beyond about two years ago.

Of course there was the unconscious body of Moon Taeil that they would’ve had to explain too. He didn’t look as bad as Seonghwa had imagined: unhealthily thin and bony but otherwise unharmed. Most importantly, he was alive; and they had saved him.

“Did he say something before he passed out?” Yunho asked as they settled into the changing rooms.

Wooyoung and San were carefully lying Taeil’s body on two benches that Jongho had put together as a makeshift bed.

“Not much,” the young Slytherin said. “Only that he was glad we deciphered the message he left me, and that the hardest part was over.”

Hongjoong let himself fall down on a bench by the walls, Seonghwa followed him, letting himself fall against his boyfriend, all of his energy and adrenaline leaving him in waves. Hongjoong gently rested his head against Seonghwa’s, his hand searching and finding Seonghwa’s to hold, it was warm and rough to the touch, covered in soil and soot still.

“How’s your arm?” Seonghwa asked quietly.

“It’s fine. Your _Draco Medicor_ spell was pretty powerful.”

“That’s a relief. You should see Madame Eunji tomorrow.”

“No.” Hongjoong shook his head. “That would only make her question where I got this injury. I’ll ask Yunho if there’s a potion, or you could perform the spell again tomorrow.”

“Right. Sorry. My brain is fried.”

“It’s alright, mine is too,” Hongjoong told him, the smile apparent in his voice.

Seonghwa’s eyelids felt heavy, his body a dead weight with all his energy gone. He wanted to put himself to sleep, preferably in the same bed as Hongjoong so they could cuddle and find solace in each other.

“Do you think this is finally over?”

Hongjoong shrugged. “I can only hope. With Taeil back, and knowing where the Order hides, all that’s left now is to take them out, and once Taeil recovers he should be more than equipped to do so. Not everyone in the Mystery sides with the Order,” he rambled on. “I think I might write my mom to tell her about this, I’ll consult Taeil about it once he wakes up.”

Seonghwa nodded. “I think that might be good. He’ll need all the help he can get once he’s has recovered. Maybe Wooyoung could write Eunmi about it too.”

Before they could continue their conversation, the door to the changing rooms slammed open and in came Mingi and Yeosang, the former carrying a bag. Yeosang seemed fine despite his Quidditch injury three days ago, it must have healed properly by now.

“Guys!” Mingi cried, eyeing their various wounded states of exhaustion. “I’m so glad you made it back in one piece! Those were the most agonizing hours of my life!”

He dropped the bag on the floor, letting its content spill out—Seonghwa could make out different _Honeydukes_ snacks—and rushed over to Hongjoong, seeing the burned and slashed pieces of his clothes, the burned flesh on his arm was a bright red.

“What the hell happened?!” Mingi demanded.

“We, uh, encountered a dragon,” Yunho explained, his gaze turning a little crazed as if the reality was only then sinking in. “Oh, man,” he muttered, crouching as he held his stomach. He searched for Hongjoong and Seonghwa. “We… survived a dragon.”

“We did,” Seonghwa said in a small voice. He faced the rest of their friends, who held varying looks of shock and awe. “Hongjoong got hit by the dragon’s fire as we _Apparated_ out of there, but I applied the _Draco_ _Medicor_ spell in time. He should be fine.”

“That sounds terrifying,” Yeosang muttered, sitting down next to Seonghwa. “I’m even more relieved now you all made it out alive.” He looked at Taeil’s body. “And you found Taeil. All in all it was a successful mission!”

His optimism and enthusiasm was met emptily. Wooyoung and San exchanged a troubled look, their eyes resting on a very quiet Jongho.

“Oh, no, what happened?” Yunho questioned worriedly. He was seated on the floor, near the bag, munching on a bar of chocolate that was meant to soothe one’s nerves.

“Well…” Jongho started hesitantly. Now that Seonghwa had come down from the adrenaline high and was in a safe place, he took his time to actually study at his friends: Wooyoung and San were paler than usual, scratches all over their bodies, and Jongho looked sick, heavy bags under his eyes, as if he had been robbed of all his energy at once. “We did find an archive room, where we located the place they were holding Taeil in. Of course it was guarded by some wizards, only two, so we took them out eventually. When we managed to get Taeil out of the cell they were keeping him in, we, um, had to bolt out of there. Somehow the Order got alarmed of our presence.”

“Hell broke loose,” San whispered, shuddering. “I’ve never felt so helpless.” He was frowning heavily. After being brought back from the dead, naturally, San wasn’t allowed to perform magic; they weren’t even sure if he could. “We ran and ran. We tried to get back to the elevator, but we bumped into a large group of dementors. It wasn’t… We barely escaped.”

“The vision I had…” Wooyoung continued. “The last two lines stated: _A sacrifice is required to stop the Darkness from ever spreading further; hollow is the soul that contains it,_ ” he recited. “We… There was… He had no choice.”

“What are you talking about?” Yunho wondered, alarmed.

Jongho twisted his hands in his lap. “I had to access that powerful, dark magic to fight the dementors off,” he admitted in a small voice. “That darkness never truly left, it’s been hiding inside me, and I don’t think I will ever be free of it. Part of it will live within me forever,” he explained. “I had my suspicions, but didn’t want to worry you. On most days I can ignore it, it’s almost as if it’s not there, but sometimes I can feel it, in distant corners.”

“Jongho I—“ Yunho started, but his voice faltered. “I’m so sorry.”

“ _Hollow is the soul that contains it_ ,” Jongho repeated Wooyoung’s vision. “I imagine it refers to me, to this-this ever present darkness inside of me. Like a broken piece that I can’t fix.”

Without a word, Yeosang rushed forward, taking Jongho into his arms to hug him tightly. The young Slytherin fell apart, tears shimmering in his eyes before he closed them, letting them roll down his cheeks freely, and he hugged Yeosang back.

“So we haven’t fixed anything,” Seonghwa said in despair, clenching his hands. He felt so utterly useless.

“That’s not true,” Wooyoung said fiercely. “We’ve found and brought Taeil back safely. We talked with Jongho about this, and decided to involve Headmistress Min since she’s well aware of the Order. Together, we’ll defeat them.”

“Jongho might be tethered to the Darkness for life, but he’s not alone,” San said. “We’re always here to remind him of that.”

**~*~**

It was the morning of Christmas, Hogwarts was submerged into a pleasant quietude and tranquility.

Seonghwa woke up slowly, his body aching from the previous day’s adventure. Hongjoong was right next to him, his arm sprawled out over Seonghwa’s chest, his face pressed against Seonghwa’s shoulder as he breathed in and out evenly.

The night before they had walked back to the castle after Wooyoung had returned San to his cousin’s home. Even if they were going to trust Headmistress Min with the Order, they weren’t so sure how she would react upon seeing San alive and well, that was a secret they weren’t ready to reveal, if they ever would.

Headmistress Min had listened to them with a concerned look on her face after ensuring that Taeil was taken care of by Madame Eunji. Hongjoong had insisted his burned arm was fine—later he had admitted to Seonghwa that he hadn’t wanted to spent the night in the Infirmary and rather with Seonghwa up in the Ravenclaw Tower.

“You should go to rest now,” Headmistress Min had told them once they had been done with their retellings. “I will think about what you’ve told me and how to handle it. I’ll warn you once Taeil wakes up. In the meantime, you should reflect about your dangerous and careless actions,” she had added sternly. “I will deduct points from your houses for this. However, I won’t involve the Ministry in this, I will keep this little adventure of yours a secret.” They hadn’t dared to protest. She had smiled then, small and proud. “I want to add that I am incredibly impressed by your courageous act! I will not forget that, and I’m sure Mr Moon won’t either.” With that she had dismissed them.

Seonghwa turned around in his bed, facing Hongjoong, who was now slowly waking up, heavy bags under his eyes, his hair a complete mess. He looked lovely.

“Hey,” Seonghwa whispered, reaching out his hand to brush some loose strands of dark hair away from Hongjoong’s forehead.

“Hi,” Hongjoong croaked out, shivering in the cold morning and moving closer to Seonghwa.

“Sleep well?”

“With you, always.”

“I’m hungry.”

“I don’t want to face the world yet,” Hongjoong muttered.

Seonghwa couldn’t blame him. They could ignore for a while what had happened, but eventually Taeil would wake up and then they would have to explain everything to him. He was sure the adults would try to deal with this without needing them, but it didn’t change the fact that they had most of the intel, especially with Jongho tethered to the darkness and the Order—one way or another.

“Then let’s stay here for a while.”

The Ravenclaw Tower was mostly empty, Seonghwa and Hongjoong were the only ones in the seventh year boy dorms, all the other boys had gone home for the holidays. Yeosang had gone to the Hufflepuff dorms to spent the night with Mingi. No one would bother them.

Seonghwa couldn’t fall back asleep, now that he was awake the events of the previous night replayed in his mind: the heat of the dragon’s fire still so present, the panic and fear that they’d die in that cave lingering in his mind, and Hongjoong’s injured arm blinking in the forefront of his brain like a warning.

He shifted his position, propping himself up on his elbow, and reached out his free hand, caressing Hongjoong’s face gently, trailing his eyes and eyebrows, the shape of his lips. The Hufflepuff held a soft and sleepy smile, eyes still close.

“What are you thinking about?” Hongjoong asked eventually.

“Yesterday. It was… I was so terrified.”

Hongjoong blinked one of his eyes open, squinting at Seonghwa as the sun was slowly rising and peeking at them through the thick curtains covering the windows.

“It would have been weird if you hadn’t been terrified,” he said. “My mom always says it’s part of being an Auror, to be scared. The way you handled it was impressive.”

“How so? I merely got us out of there. That was a coward’s move.”

“No. It wasn’t. We couldn’t have fought the dragon. It was the smartest thing to get out of there,” Hongjoong countered. “And the fact that you managed to _Apparate_ us to Hogsmeade with everything that was going on… We didn’t even suffer splinching or any sort of injury from it. That just shows how incredible you are.”

Seonghwa hid his smile in the palm of his hand, cheeks burning. He leaned down to press his lips against Hongjoong softly, feeling Hongjoong’s eyelids close again, his eyelashes brushing against Seonghwa’s cheeks. He closed his own eyes, moving into a more comfortably position to kiss his boyfriend. Idly, Hongjoong moved one of his hands to come rest on the nape of Seonghwa’s neck, entangling with his hair to keep his face in place, kissing him deeper.

A faint warm sensation spread through Seonghwa’s body, eliciting a cackling electricity from his fingertips and down his spine until all he felt were his lips on Hongjoong’s and Hongjoong’s hands on him, the points of connection were all he was made of, reduced to that burning and alive fire he became whenever he was with Hongjoong. His place of complete comfort.

Seonghwa wasn’t sure for how long they made out, but the sun was high in the sky when they finally broke apart, breathless and giggly, his heart and soul calmer than before. He gazed down at Hongjoong lovingly.

“As much as I am enjoying this, I _am_ starving,” he whispered, eliciting a laugh from Hongjoong.

“Alright, alright. Let’s go.”

Together, hand in hand, they entered the Great Hall, where their friends were already waiting for them, dressed in their pajamas with thick, matching winter sweaters pulled over their heads. Wooyoung pointed at two wrapped presents on the table.

“Courtesy from Eunmi. She, uh, made us all knitted sweaters,” he explained.

“Sweet!” Seonghwa unwrapped his sweater to pull it over his head, the chilly morning air clinging to him. “Did you sleep well?”

“Eh, barely,” Wooyoung replied with a shrug. “I was still too high wired.”

“Same,” Jongho muttered.

“How’s San?” Yunho asked.

“Same as us. I believe with time we’ll be fine though. Taeil was right: the hardest part is over.”

“Headmistress Min said, although she wants us there to discuss this with Taeil, that they will take care of it. We’ve done our part,” Jongho explained.

Seonghwa hummed, pouring himself a generous cup of coffee. “As expected.”

“She also said we should take the day slow,” Yeosang added.

“Can’t argue with that,” Yunho murmured sleepily.

Ease settled into Seonghwa, they had saved Taeil. Headmistress Min would take care of the rest, this wasn’t solely on his shoulders, he could relax a little and enjoy the holidays with his friends and boyfriend.

“Snowball fight after breakfast?” Mingi suggested.

“You’re on!” Wooyoung grinned.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you so much for reading!!!💛
> 
> you can find me here: [twitter](https://twitter.com/hhhjoong)  
> if you have questions: [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.qa/mist_)


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